HOW DOES A LAWYER GET CERTIFIED AS AN OHIO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SPECIALIST ATTORNEY?

All attorneys licensed to practice law in Ohio must have graduated from an accredited law school, passed an intensive examination, and attended continuing legal education courses as required by the Supreme Court of Ohio.

But, there are only 152 Board Certified Ohio Work Comp Specialist attorneys in the state. Why pay the same percentage fee for a non-specialist?  DID YOU KNOW that most lawyers taking Ohio Work Comp Cases ARE NOT Board Certified Specialists?Ohio attorneys who are certified as specialists by the OSBA must take and pass a written examination in their specialty field, demonstrate a high level of substantial involvement in the specialty area, fulfill ongoing education requirements and be favorably evaluated by other attorneys and judges familiar with their work.

MIKE GRUHIN “THE COMP SPECIALIST” IS A BOARD CERTIFIED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SPECIALIST

Why pay the same percentage fee for the services of an attorney who isn’t a Board Certified Specialist?
That just doesn’t make sense!

The Ohio State Bar Association “Specialization Program” was created to give licensed Ohio attorneys the ability to become certified as specialists in particular areas of law. The Ohio State Bar Association is proud to be accredited by the Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Certification of Attorneys as Specialists (CCAS). Accreditation means the CCAS has evaluated our programs and recognizes that they meet certain minimum standards established by the commission & required by the Ohio Supreme Court under rule XIV.

OSBA certification is a voluntary process that requires a commitment to excellence. Gruhin & Gruhin is Committed to Providing Legal Excellence to its Clients!

So, who might choose to become Board Certified as an Attorney Specialist ?

Attorneys who devote a large part of their practice to a particular area of the law may choose to go beyond these requirements to earn specialty certification. This means that they have:

1) demonstrated substantial and continuing involvement in a particular field of law, (meaning they must devote at least 25% of their practice to an area of law); {Mike Gruhin devotes 100% of his practice to Ohio Work Comp}

2) submitted five individual references attesting to their competency in the specialty field;

3) taken and passed a written examination in their specialty field

4) taken classes to earn a minimum of 36 hours of intermediate or advanced continuing legal education credits in the specialty area during the past three years in addition to the continuing legal education credits required of non-specialist attorneys;

5 ) remained in good standing with the Supreme Court of Ohio; proven financial responsibility by maintaining a special limit of professional liability insurance coverage.

Does The Certification Last Forever?

Attorneys who have earned specialty certification must be re-certified at least every seven years and must earn a minimum of 12 continuing legal education credits in the specialty area every two years by taking Advanced Level Ohio Workers’ Compensation Continuing Education Classes. Specialists keep up with the changing Ohio BWC laws.

Who certifies attorneys as specialist?

The Supreme Court of Ohio established a Commission on certification of Attorneys as Specialists. This Commission is The Ohio State Bar Association Law Specialty Board and it is the largest certifying agency in Ohio.

How do I know if an attorney is a certified specialist?

Mike Gruhin is a Board Certified Specialist.  Look for the special designation that reads “certified by the Ohio State Bar Association” on business cards, letterhead, of in advertising. You should also ask any attorneys you contact if he/she is a ertified specialist in the area of law in which they practice.

Get your questions about Ohio Workers’ Compensation answered by a Board Certified OhioBWC  Specialist Attorney.  Call Mike Gruhin, “The Comp Specialist”.

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

33,572 Veterans got checks; 3 times as many have not applied

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

COLUMBUS

Opponents of collective-bargaining reform passed by Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. John Kasich have been given the green light to collect signatures to repeal the law.

Secretary of State Jon Husted certified the initial signatures submitted by the group We Are Ohio, and Attorney General Mike DeWine approved the language contained in the shorter of two petitions submitted to his office to review.

The approvals from the two Republican officeholders were needed before We Are Ohio could circulate its petitions. The group will need to collect more than 231,000 signatures from registered voters throughout the state before the end of June to qualify for the November ballot.

Senate Bill 5 opponents don’t think they’ll have a problem meeting those requirements.

“Most petition-drive campaigns in this state struggle to get volunteers to help them,” said Dennis Willard, a spokesman for We Are Ohio. “We have thousands of people asking us not where do I sign?” but where do I sign up to become a petition circulator.

Senate Bill 5 places limits on collective bargaining, changing the way public workers have negotiated contract terms for nearly three decades.

It allows more than 350,000 public employees to negotiate for wages, hours, safety-equipment needs and working terms and conditions but not other issues.

It prohibits those workers from striking, caps employer contributions to health-care premiums and requires employees’ pay to be based on their performance, not solely on seniority.

The bill passed the Ohio House and Senate on mostly party-line votes and was signed into law by Kasich late last month.

Proponents say the law enables state and local governments to control their costs better, but opponents say it’s a politically motivated attack on unions.

Opponents have about 90 days to complete the referendum process to place the legislation on the November ballot. If they succeed, Senate Bill 5 will not take effect until after the election — or never if voters reject it.

On Friday, Husted certified 2,506 signatures of 2,835 collected by the group, which needed 1,000 to meet the initial referendum requirement. The secretary of state also signed off on the full text of Senate Bill 5, which was submitted to his office for review.

DeWine OK’d the summary language for the shorter version of We Are Ohio’s petition but rejected a longer version, saying it was “far too lengthy and detailed to be considered a short and concise summing up of the matter.”

Willard said We Are Ohio will launch the petition drive in coming days. Additional information about that effort will be available on the group’s website, www.weareohio.com.

Published: Sat, April 16, 2011 @ 12:10 a.m.
By Marc Kovac
news@vindy.com

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Saying Ohio residents are not getting their fair share of casino revenue, Gov. John Kasich is considering asking operators of the state’s four casinos to pay more — either through additional up-front fees or through the state’s commercial activity tax.

“I think the taxpayers of Ohio got a bad deal,” Kasich said Wednesday at an unrelated bill signing in Columbus, echoing comments he had made earlier this week.

Kasich wants developers to pay more, even though Ohio’s new casino tax already is among the highest in the nation and financial analysts caution that higher taxes and fees could lead to smaller projects and fewer jobs.

The governor on Tuesday ruled out going back to voters to get more money from casino operators by increasing the one-time $50 million per-casino licensing fee or the 33 percent revenue tax that they will pay.

Both of these were set by the 2009 constitutional amendment in which voters approved Las-Vegas style casinos for Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Any change would need to be voted on.

But he said the casinos should pay more.

“You like to ask people to step up and help us in tough times,” he said, speaking after a news conference announcing that the state would give ATM manufacturer Diebold $56 million to stay in Northeast Ohio.

“I have told people we don’t want to shut you down, we’re not going back on the ballot, but frankly the taxpayers of this state have a little leverage right now, and this may be the last time we have leverage.

“It would be great to have a little more money to give to our schools, or to give to a job training program,” added Kasich, who made deep cuts to state and local government to plug $8 billion in holes in the state’s proposed budget.

The 33 percent tax rate that will be charged to Ohio casinos already is well above the national average of 18 percent for 2009, the latest period for which figures were available.

Ohio’s tax rate as it is set in the constitutional amendment ranks third highest nationally out of the 13 states with casinos, according to Holly Wetzel, spokeswoman for American Gaming Association, the industry group that tracks these figures.

“The gaming tax is above and beyond all the traditional business taxes other businesses pay in the state,” Wetzel said. “We call it a privilege tax.”

Still, Kasich says you have to look beyond the tax rate. He says that the casinos are getting a $1.2 billion annual industry for $200 million in licensing fees, which is not enough. Over the last two days, the governor has indicated there are other ways for casino operators to pay.

The governor said the state is within days of hiring a gambling consultant to advise him on these and other issues. That consultant will suggest what additional fees casino operators should pay. Kasich promised to move quickly once the consultant is in place.

The casinos in Toledo and Columbus, a $650 million investment, are being built and paid for by Penn National Gaming Inc.

The Cleveland and Cincinnati casinos are being developed by Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert’s gambling company, Rock Gaming, in partnership with Caesar’s Entertainment.

They say they plan to invest nearly $1.5 billion in the two cities – an amount that’s three times what’s required in the 2009 constitutional amendment.

Officials for Rock Gaming said last week that uncertainty of fees, taxes, and when its casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati could open have kept lenders from giving them the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to complete the projects.

Matt Cullen, president and chief operating officer of Rock Gaming, compared the developers’ situation with lenders to a family trying to buy a house without knowing exactly what it will cost or how much money you have to pay the mortgage.

“So it’s a problem,” he said. “It’s a significant problem.”

Ultimately, if costs go up the developer may have to scale back the projects.

“This is going to throw people out of work,” said I. Nelson Rose, and expert on gambling and a professor at the Whittier Law School in Orange County, Calif. “Even a delay hurts these projects. But the prospect of raising fees and taxes and adding the element of uncertainty could kill them.”

LeRoy Brooks, a John Carroll University finance professor, said he believes Rock Gaming and Caesars can get the loans if they are willing to assume the bulk of the risk.

“There’s gaming going on right now,” Brooks said. “They’d like to use as much pressure as possible to keep the state from passing increases.”

In Cincinnati, the financing problems mean the developer probably will cancel an order of steel that would be used to frame the project before next winter. In Cleveland, where the first phase of the casino is being built in the historic Higbee building, it’s more day to day because the site is enclosed.

Another way for the state to up what it gets from casinos is through how it applies an existing commercial activity tax — against gross gambling revenues or total bets cast.

The CAT, paid by most businesses in Ohio, is in addition to the 33 percent casino revenue tax set by state voters. While the tax is just 26 cents on every $100, it adds up quickly. And how it is applied to casinos could make a difference of ten fold.

The Horseshoe Casino Hammond Indiana, a Caesar’s property, last year generated $558 million in gambling revenue, but about $5 billion in bets.

If the CAT tax were applied to total revenue, it would be about $1.4 million. Applied to total bets and that jumps to $13 million.

The tax is for the privilege of doing business in the state. Casino developers point out that banks pay the tax on transactions, but not total deposits.

And horse racing tracks pay the tax on their net revenue, not total wagering.

Still, the governor was adamant Wednesday that the state should get more. Said Kasich, “What more are they willing to do, or do they think they’ve done enough?”

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

It’s official. John Kasich, Ohio Governor,  is the least popular governor in America. Only 30 percent of Ohioans approve of the job he’s doing.

What does this mean? It means that we are getting our message out – and the people of Ohio are responding.

The Ohio Democratic Party, its allies in Labor and the entire progressive community have built huge crowds across the state, generated overwhelming amounts of letters to the editor, knocked on countless doors in targeted districts and made thousands upon thousands of phone calls.

To fight back against John Kasich’s agenda, we ask that you help in one of the following ways:

• Call your Ohio Legilator and instruct him/her to vote against legislation like Ohio Senate Bill 5.

  We cannot give up because – despite the will of Ohio’s Citizens – Kasich and the GOP want to:

  Slash funding for children’s hospitals.

  Leave watch towers at maximum security prisons unstaffed.

  Slash local police and fire departments.

  Strip away police officers’ right to bargain for more safety equipment, like bulletproof vests.

  Take away workers’ rights, including overtime pay.

  John Kasich’s agenda is reckless. Tell your legislator that you do not approve of him or her voting to reduce and/or eliminate the rights of Ohioans.

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

Hard to believe, but the legislature in Ohio is about to give Emergency Room doctors a free pass. They won’t be held accountable to uphold the minimum standard of care if this bill passes. SHOUT LOUD AND SHOUT HARD TO GET THIS BILL DEFEATED.

Today the Ohio Senate introduces Senate Bill 129, a bill that would grant immunity to physicians who provide emergency medical services.

Proposed Legislation Needlessly Raises Taxes and Endangers Public

Currently, Ohio has some of the best medical care in the country. Senate Bill 129 will undermine that accomplishment by giving immunity to all physicians who provide emergency medical services. This proposed Bill will require taxes to be raised, will reduce the quality of medical care in Ohio, and will invite bad doctors to practice in Ohio. Under the proposed law, if any physician is negligent in the emergency room setting and causes injury to a patient, the doctor and/or hospital (and their private insurance companies) will not have to pay for the harm caused. Instead, the patient (or the taxpayer) will be required to pay for the financial harm that the medical errors caused, including lost wages and further medical treatment and expenses. This proposed law provides no incentive for emergency rooms to be staffed with the best and most qualified health care professionals. For the first time in Ohio’s history, preventable medical errors will cost hospitals nothing, but patients everything.

Further, the proposed legislation will undermine Governor’ Kasich’s promise to fix Ohio’s financial crisis.  On a national level, medical errors cost Medicare approximately $4.4 Billion annually (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General).  Preventable medical errors that do not result in the patients’ death almost always require the injured patients to seek further care, and in many instances render the patients unable to work or earn a living. The cost of that medical care and lost income will regularly be passed on to the taxpayers through increased state Medicaid spending and other governmental safety-net programs, thus adding to Ohio’s budget crisis. Ohio law has always required that the responsible party must pay for the medical care and lost income caused by the malpractice, not transfer that obligation to the taxpayer. SB 129 will turn 208 years of common sense law upside down.

History has shown proposed SB 129 to be a bad idea. In Texas and Georgia, for example, where such laws have passed–allowing emergency doctors to practice with little to no accountability, the quality of emergency care plummeted.  According to the American College of Emergency Physicians Report Card on Access to Emergency Care, both Texas and Georgia received failing grades for access to emergency care. Ohio‘s grade exceeds the grade of all five states that currently have emergency room immunity laws.

Studies have proven that over 98,000 preventable deaths occur each year in America’s hospitals. This number does not include people who were severely injured and left with a life time of disabilities, medical bills, and lost wages. Lack of accountability will attract doctors to Ohio who had difficulty buying insurance elsewhere because of a history of significant medical mistakes.  Ohio does not want to attract bad doctors to the state.

Because proposed SB 129 will increase the tax burden to Ohio’s taxpayers, attract bad doctors to Ohio, and decrease the quality of care delivered in Ohio’s emergency rooms and urgent care centers, the Bill is a bad idea and should be defeated.

Proponents suggest the Bill is necessary because emergency doctors sometimes have to make quick decisions.  But that is exactly how ER doctors are trained, and why they are paid well. Proponents also suggest that this bill is limited to circumstances where a disaster strikes Ohio.  That is simply not true. Immunity under SB 129 is conferred to all doctors who see patients in the ER setting, even under routine circumstances. 

Currently, under Ohio law, doctors and hospitals have plenty of protection from unnecessary lawsuits. A lawsuit cannot be filed against a doctor or hospital unless a competent physician reviews the records, comes to an opinion about the care, and executes an affidavit under oath stating that the care failed to meet acceptable medical standards. So, only physicians can trigger a medical malpractice lawsuit in Ohio.  Further, there are caps on the amount of damages a hospital or doctor can pay, irrespective of how badly injured the patient was.  And, the number of claims against doctors in Ohio is at a historic low.

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

Tomorrow, as Governor Kasich delivers his first State of the State address, supporters of Ohio’s middle class will gather outside the Statehouse to voice their opposition to his agenda.

Many Ohioans plan to meet tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. on the West Lawn of the Statehouse to speak out against Gov. Kasich’s reckless plans.

Details:
Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8
Rally at the Statehouse
West Lawn
1 Capitol Square
Columbus, Ohio
Rally begins: 11:30 a.m.

Based on Gov. Kasich’s record and his actions so far in office, it is expected that he will unveil his plans tomorrow – plans that are rumored to favor the wealthy and big corporations at the expense of middle class Ohioans.

Keep posted for continuing updates on the state of  The State of Ohio

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.

Call your Ohio State Representative and voice your objection. Once this threat goes into effect, what other rights and liberties will be taken away from Ohioans.

Click this link to find out who your representative is. Only the threat of booting them out of office will make them stand up and listen.

Ohio joined Wisconsin on Wednesday in advancing a plan to restrict public sector unions, posing a new threat to labor union power in one of the most politically and economically important states.

The Republican-controlled Ohio state senate approved a proposal to curb the collective bargaining rights of public employees and forbid government workers from going on strike.

The vote followed the Wisconsin Assembly’s approval last week of a similar proposal, which has sparked mass protests and a national debate over labor relations.

In both states, the plans still must be passed by a second chamber of the legislature and signed by the states’ governors. Republicans, who have been pushing the anti-union proposals, hold the governorships and legislative majorities in both Wisconsin and Ohio.

If enacted, Ohio would become the biggest U.S. state so far to impose sweeping restrictions on public sector unions.

What began three weeks ago as a dispute between Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker and state unions has blown up into possibly the biggest challenge to the labor movement since President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers in 1981.

Republicans say the moves are needed to rescue recession-battered state budgets from debt, but Democrats and union supporters say the proposals are an attack on organized labor that could linger into the 2012 elections.

While Wisconsin has gained more national attention, Ohio is far more important to the union movement. It has the sixth largest number of public sector union members among all U.S. states, twice the number of Wisconsin.

The Ohio proposal was narrowly approved on a Senate vote of 17 to 16, with six majority Republicans joining Democrats to vote against it.

“SHAME ON YOU”

After the vote, workers listening to the proceedings outside the Ohio Senate chambers shouted “Shame on you” and “We’ll remember this.”

Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich hailed the Senate vote and said it would help local governments get the economy back on track. “This is a major step forward in correcting the imbalance between taxpayers and the government unions that work for them,” Kasich said.

More than 8,000 protesters converged on Ohio’s capital on Tuesday to demonstrate against the proposal, which would affect workers including public school teachers, firefighters and police.

In Wisconsin, the curbs on public unions that passed the Assembly last week exempted police and firefighters.

At a news conference in Columbus with Ohio Democrats, representatives of fire and police unions complained the Ohio bill would take away their ability to bargain for safety equipment, such as bullet-proof vests

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/03/us-ohio-unions-idUSTRE7202UC20110303?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29&utm_content=Twitter

© 2011, Gruhin & Gruhin Attorney's. All rights reserved.