A seasoned trial lawyer, Tom has more than four decades of experience in state and federal court litigation. His practice focuses in the areas of constitutional and statutory rights, and in defamation and education law, as well as complex product liability cases, special remedies, and religious organizations. Tom has also mediated and arbitrated diverse kinds of legal matters over many years. Since 1990, he has been an Acting Judge in Sylvania Municipal Court, for which he has written numerous decisions on a wide variety of civil and criminal law issues. He has been trial counsel of record in more than 40 reported state and federal court appellate decisions.
Tom has extensive experience in print and electronic media defamation and public records matters. He has represented individuals, large and small companies, numerous church denominations, schools, parishes, dioceses, religious congregations, TV and radio stations, and nonprofit organizations in litigation at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts. Tom has litigated all types of cases for private schools, religious organizations, and educational foundations. He has defended many complex product liability cases, including matters involving the operation of machinery, motor vehicle, civilian and military aviation crashes, and building construction system failures.
Tom has been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States and is a Life Member of the U. S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference. He served as a Member of the Ohio Board of Bar Examiners for 10 years, and as its Chair (1996-1999), when the Board raised the exam pass standard and added the Multi-State Performance Test. He served 26 years in the U.S. Naval Reserve, retiring as a Surface Warfare and Special Warfare Officer with the rank of Commander. Tom has been active as a leader in local church groups and area judicial campaigns.
Tom sees his role in the judicial system to be a creative problem-solver. He believes that his broad experience and expertise can help to resolve disputes where the underlying causes of disrupted relationships may be identified, addressed and restored. He recently helped a group come together to remove a divisive leader, after Tom’s investigation unearthed that person’s checkered prior history. He finds satisfaction in seeing some measure of peace and harmony restored in the jurisdictions where he practices.
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