On September 17, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Dayton) ruled on a motion to dismiss in a securities case being defended by Jeff Ireland, Marty Foos, and Erin Rhinehart.
A consolidated class action complaint has been filed against four former officers of Huffy Corporation. The court granted, in part, FI&C's motion to dismiss. The court dismissed some of the claims against the former CEO, a number of allegations contained in the complaint, and all of the claims relating to Sarbanes Oxley violations. A number of claims remain. Discovery is just beginning and it is anticipated that the case will go to trial in 2010.

On September 22, 2008, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Dayton) confirmed a Second Partial Final Award.
The court confirmed the arbitrator's denial of class certification with respect to federal discrimination and wrongful termination claims in a putative class action. Jeff Ireland is representing NCR Corporation and Teradata Corporation in this putative class action alleging race and age discrimination. The arbitrator had previously denied (and the court confirmed) class certification on state law claims for race and age discrimination.

After an evidentiary hearing and briefing, the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court denied a petition by a local municipality to appropriate via eminent domain street lights that are owned by FI&C's client.
Miami Valley Lighting, LLC, a subsidiary of DPL Inc., owns street lights in many municipalities in West Central Ohio, and provides street lighting service pursuant to contracts with local municipalities. One of those municipalities attempted to take those street lights through its eminent domain powers. In the first known case in the county to address whether street lights can be taken through the eminent domain process, Jeff Sharkey and John Fischer persuaded the Court that street lighting was not a public utility and was not real property, and thus could not be taken through the eminent domain process.

After several years, the federal government closed a criminal investigation of one of the firms' clients concerning whether or not the Clean Air Act was violated.
The investigation was closed without an indictment or other action with respect to the firm's client. Charlie Faruki and Eli Kiefaber represented the client in this matter.

In an action pending in the District Court for the Western District of Texas, Ron Raether, Angela Sinkovits and Eric Voigt prevailed on a motion to dismiss, which the Court converted to a motion for summary judgment.
Since FI&C's client had not been required to answer the complaint, the Court looked at the face of the complaint and, after giving plaintiff an opportunity to present evidence, held as a matter of law that a former employee could not rely on an employment handbook to (1) alter the presumption of at-will employment, (2) claim entitlement to a pre-adverse action procedure, or (3) receive post-termination compensation. The Court also concluded that the alleged statement of a non-management employee could not form the basis for a claim of defamation.

Charlie Faruki has again been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
Charlie is one of a group of attorneys who have been listed in Best Lawyers for over 20 years. He is quadruple-listed, in the categories of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, White-Collar Criminal Defense, and Energy Law.

On September 24, 2008, Jeff Ireland spoke at an NBI seminar "May It Please the Court Effective Case Presentation at Trial."
Jeff's topics included Getting the Best Out of Witness Examination, Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Exhibits, and Closing Statements and Final Jury Instructions Steer the Jury in the Right Direction.

Ron Raether published an article in the Business Law Today about Ethical Hacking.
In the American Bar Association's September/October publication, Ron addresses questions regarding a common tool used in data privacy and security regimes - ethical hacking. From testing the strength of firewalls to employing social engineers to challenge the skills of employees, Ron uses his experience and knowledge to identify and address issues important to making sure that companies get the most out of the effort without creating unintended exposure. To view a copy of Ron's article, click Here

Brian Wright spoke at a nationwide CLE teleconference on technology and legal research.
Brian's presentation focused on teaching legal professionals methods to efficiently and safely use the research and marketing capabilities of the internet. Brian shared his experience with using the internet to effectively research and conduct due diligence. The September 18, 2008 teleconference, titled "Techniques for Legal Research on the Web," was broadcasted nationally and was sponsored by the National Business Institute.