Students from ten Ohio high schools will talk with Ohio Supreme Court justices and attend the court’s session on Wednesday, April 9 at the University of Toledo College of Law. (Eric E Johnson/Konomark)

Students from ten Ohio high schools will talk with Ohio Supreme Court justices and attend the court’s session on Wednesday, April 9 at the University of Toledo College of Law. (Eric E Johnson/Konomark)

The Ohio Supreme Court will review the termination and reinstatement of a former Cedar Point executive, along with two other cases, when it convenes in official session in Toledo on April 9 as part of the biannual Off-Site Court Program.

The Supreme Court’s seven justices will travel to the University of Toledo College of Law to consider oral arguments in the appeals. Summaries of the cases were released today by the court’s public information office.

The off-site session, held at varied locations around the state, is part of a nationally recognized program to enhance students’ understanding of the legal system by providing an opportunity for them to observe the Supreme Court’s proceedings in person and to interact with justices, attorneys, and court staff.

Several high schools are participating: E.L. Bowsher High School, Maumee Valley Country Day School, Notre Dame Academy, Ottawa Hills High School, Perrysburg High School, Roy C. Start High School, St. Francis de Sales High School, St. John’s Jesuit High School & Academy, Toledo School for the Arts, and Morrison R. Waite High School. Law students will also attend the oral arguments.

Before the off-site session, students and teachers study curriculum material, including summaries of the cases that will be argued. Local attorneys partner with educators at each school to explain Ohio’s judicial system and to review case materials. On the morning of April 9, students will engage in a question-and-answer session with the justices. Students will also meet after the court’s session with the case attorneys to debrief and discuss the legal issues.

This will be Toledo’s second time hosting the program and the 68th time the court has held oral arguments outside Columbus since the program started in 1987. Toledo also hosted off-site court in the program’s first year.

Wednesday’s oral arguments will begin at 9 a.m., will be carried live online at sc.ohio.gov, and broadcast live on The Ohio Channel. For more information about the Off-Site Court Program, including footage from past sessions, view a video illustrating the program.

Cases for Wednesday, April 9

• In Cedar Fair v. Falfas, an arbitration panel found that a Sandusky amusement park company violated the terms of an employment contract with the company’s chief operating officer when it allegedly fired him. To remedy the situation, the panel ordered the company to reinstate the man to his former position. The company argues that requiring it to rehire a former employee is contrary to state law that bars the forced reinstatement of terminated employees unless a specific statute applies.
• Visiting Nurse Association of Mid-Ohio v. Friebel involves a workers’ compensation claim filed by a nurse who travels from home to home to provide health care to patients. She was injured in a car accident while driving her children to the mall on her way to her first patient appointment. The employer contends that the woman was on a personal errand and had not yet begun work that day, so she is not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.
• A man was convicted of gross sexual imposition and public indecency in State v. Tate after he persuaded a teenager outside a Euclid library to check out a study group he said was meeting nearby. The appeals court ruled that neither the victim nor her friends identified the man on trial as the one who spoke with the girl and committed the crimes. Cuyahoga County prosecutors maintain that a library security video from that day, the man’s own testimony at trial, and other evidence clearly and convincingly showed that the man on trial was the man who the victim and her friends testified about.