Q:       I am overwhelmed by credit card and medical debt. Will my wages be garnished unless I file for bankruptcy?

A:        Wage garnishment is a possibility. If you are employed and earn more than minimum wage, a creditor who has obtained a judgment against you can file a wage garnishment. This will take up to 25 percent of your take-home pay, which will be paid to your creditor rather than to you until the judgment is satisfied. It may be possible, however, to avoid both garnishment and bankruptcy.

Q:       How can I avoid a wage garnishment?

A:        There are two options that may give you some breathing room in your budget while avoiding wage garnishment.

            The first option is to enter into trusteeship in the municipal court where the creditor has obtained the judgment against you. The trusteeship requires you to pay to the court the amount that would have been taken by a wage garnishment. This sum would be divided among all of your listed creditors (not including your mortgage and/or car payment), rather than being paid to only the one creditor threatening garnishment.

            The second option is to enter into a debt scheduling agreement with a nonprofit consumer credit counseling agency. In Ohio, Apprisen (www.apprisen.com) is one such nonprofit organization with a number of offices across the state. If you choose this option, a credit counselor would contact your creditors to arrange monthly payments and may be able to convince your creditors to keep interest from accumulating. Creditors are not required to participate in this program, but many of the larger creditors such as banks, hospitals and utilities do participate. Nonprofit credit counseling services provide free initial comprehensive and confidential financial counseling sessions and charge modest fees if a consumer enters into a debt repayment program.

Q:       I am retired and my only income comes from Social Security and PERS from my years as a public employee. If I do not pay my creditors, will I be forced to file a bankruptcy?
A:        No. Your creditors cannot take these funds because they are considered exempt from attachment. (An “attachment” is a court order instructing your bank to pay money from your account to the court.) If your only sources of income are Social Security and PERS (or SERS), you may be considered “uncollectible” or “judgment proof.” If an attachment of your bank account is filed, however, you must request a hearing to show the court the source of your income and that it is exempt from attachment. If you fail to do this, the creditor may be able to keep the money that is attached.

Q:       How can I decide whether I need to file a bankruptcy?
A:        Consult with a bankruptcy attorney or nonprofit consumer credit counseling agency. An attorney or credit counselor will review your specific situation and help you decide the best course of action.

This “Law You Can Use” column was provided by the Ohio State Bar Association. It was prepared by Akron attorney Terry D. Zimmerman of Kaffen & Zimmerman Articles appearing in this column are intended to provide broad, general information about the law. Before applying this information to a specific legal problem, readers are urged to seek advice from an attorney.

Q:       Why do we have workers’ compensation?

A:        Early in the 20th century, our increasingly industrialized state recognized that the common law system for compensating victims of work-related injuries did not suit the needs of a modern society. A new system—a no-fault workers’ compensation system—replaced the fault-oriented system. Workers no longer had to sue to recover for industrial injuries, but would receive swift and certain compensation irrespective of fault. Instead of lump sum payments that might be awarded in lawsuits, injured workers would receive legislatively prescribed benefits designed to address the particular type of loss.

Q:       What is the basic form of workers’ compensation benefit?

A:        The benefit that replaces the immediate loss arising from an injury is called temporary total disability compensation (TTD). As with most forms of compensation, TTD benefits are paid as a percentage of the injured worker’s average earnings (usually two-thirds), subject to a maximum weekly rate. If you are an injured worker in Ohio, you would receive TTD when you are unable to return to your regular job or offered work and when you have not yet returned to work, but your disability remains temporary.

Q:       I was injured at work. What if I cannot return to my former job, but must accept a lower-paying job?

A:        You may qualify for a form of compensation called wage loss compensation to address this loss. Wage loss benefits are payable for up to four years at two-thirds of the difference between your after-injury earnings and your average wage.

Q:       What happens if I need to be retrained?

A:        You may need to acquire new skills to return to the workforce. Not only are the costs of vocational rehabilitation paid for under workers’ compensation, but you may also qualify to receive a form of compensation similar to TTD called living maintenance while you are being retrained. If you have completed your rehabilitation, but must take a lower-wage job, you may also be eligible for another type of wage loss compensation.

Q:       What if I can never return to work?

A:        If you are permanently removed from the workforce by an injury, then you may be entitled to lifetime benefits called permanent total disability compensation (PTD). To receive this compensation, you must demonstrate that you are no longer able to perform any sustained remunerative employment. If you suffer serious losses, such as the loss of use of both legs, you also may be eligible for PTD, even though you may be working.

Q:       What happens if my spouse dies as a result of a work-related injury?

A:        You, as the surviving spouse, would receive compensation for life or until you remarry. Any children you may have would also receive benefits (generally until age 18, the age of majority, but these benefits may be extended under certain circumstances). The weekly benefit amount would be apportioned among your spouse’s survivors.

Q:       Might I be able to receive compensation for "pain and suffering" related to my work injury?

A:        No, but there is a benefit that is unrelated to economic loss called a permanent partial disability award (PPD). PPD compensates you for impairment to or loss of a body part. There are two forms of PPD. One compensates you for the percentage of impairment caused by the injury, and the other compensates you for the loss of a body part according to a schedule set in the workers’ compensation statutes.

Q:       If I have a workers’ compensation claim, can I choose to settle it by taking a lump sum?

A:        Yes. Claims may be settled in whole or in part in Ohio. However, because the Ohio system is designed to address an injured worker’s needs at different times after a claim is filed, many workers choose not to settle because of the years of protection that the Ohio system provides.

This “Law You Can Use” column was provided by the Ohio State Bar Association. It was prepared by Robert A. Minor, an attorney and principal with the Columbus office of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. Articles appearing in this column are intended to provide broad, general information about the law. Before applying this information to a specific legal problem, readers are urged to seek advice from an attorney.

In 2012, the Ohio legislature enacted the Third Grade Reading Guarantee. This law requires schools to identify reading deficiencies, create specialized reading improvement and monitoring plans, and provide intensive reading interventions. With some exceptions, the law requires third grade students to achieve a minimum score on state reading assessments to progress to fourth grade.

Q: My daughter has always struggled with reading. What will this law mean for her?
A: Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, all third grade students must achieve a minimum score of 392 on the Grade Three Reading Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) in either the fall or spring of their third grade year to be advanced to fourth grade. The initiative calls for raising the minimum score each year until it reaches 400, the score at which a student is considered “proficient” in reading.
All Ohio public schools must administer an English-Language Arts diagnostic assessment test every September and identify students’ reading abilities. You will be notified in writing if your daughter fails to meet benchmark grade level scores. Once she is identified, the school (with support from you and the classroom teacher) must provide reading intervention and develop an individualized reading improvement and monitoring plan within 60 days. The school will assign your daughter to a school-identified “high-performance teacher” (one whose students perform very well). Your daughter will receive at least 90 minutes of reading intervention daily. She may also receive small group instruction, reduced teacher-student ratios, more frequent progress monitoring, tutoring or mentoring, extended school days or summer reading programs.

Q: If my daughter does not pass the Ohio reading assessment, will she be held back in every subject?
A: No. If your daughter demonstrates proficiency in another subject, such as math, writing, science or social studies, she must receive appropriate grade level instruction in that area. If she is at grade level for all subjects except reading, she may advance to fourth grade in all subjects except reading. She will continue to receive intensive remediation services until she reads at grade level. If your daughter is retained, the district must offer and pay for reading intervention services from one or more approved outside tutoring providers. The school district also must establish a policy to promote your daughter to fourth grade whenever she demonstrates that she is reading at or above grade level.

Q: Are there any exceptions to this rule?
A: Yes. Students may advance to fourth grade without meeting the minimum score if they:
• have limited English proficiency and have had less than two years of instruction in a U.S. school;
• have received intensive remediation for two years and were previously retained in kindergarten through third grade;
• demonstrate reading competency on an alternative reading assessment approved by the Ohio Department of Education; or
• are in special education programs whose individualized education program (IEP) teams exempt them.

Q: My child receives special education services under an IEP. How does the Third Grade Reading Guarantee affect him?
A: The goal of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee is to address reading weaknesses in both general education and special education students. Like other special education students, your son must take the reading diagnostic test each fall in kindergarten through third grade, without accommodations whenever possible, unless his IEP teams excuse him and allow him to take an alternative assessment.
A reading assessment based on this new initiative is separate from a student’s IEP and creates separate intervention requirements. Like any student, if your son is not reading at grade level, he will receive immediate interventions, including a reading improvement and intervention plan. The plan should be separate from, but in line with, his current IEP. He will receive intensive reading interventions above and beyond whatever reading support is in his IEP. The school district should document the reading assessment results on his special education evaluations and his team should review his plan.
Your son can be kept in third grade if he does not achieve the minimum score on the OAA. However, he may be exempt from retention if you and the school decide that his curriculum is significantly different from grade level or he requires testing accommodations beyond those allowed on Ohio assessment tests. If he is eligible for exemption, it must be noted in his plan.

Q: My son is in third grade in the 2012-2013 school year. Must he pass the reading assessment to advance to fourth grade?
A: If, as a current third grade student, your son does not achieve a score of 390 (the 2012-2013 school year minimum score) on the OAA by June 2013, he can still advance to fourth grade if the principal and reading teacher believe he is ready based on other evaluations or that he can succeed with supplemental reading assistance.

This “Law You Can Use” column was provided by the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA). It was prepared by attorney Kerry M. Agins, a partner in the Cleveland firm, Siegel & Agins Co., LPA. The column offers general information about the law. Seek an attorney’s advice before applying this information to a legal problem.

Q:       The news media heavily covered a local crime, but the prosecutor wouldn’t comment. Why not?

A:        When a major crime goes to trial in Ohio, the county prosecutor will lead the effort to prosecute. Prosecutors are elected Ohio officials, charged with the distinct and challenging duty to seek justice while keeping the public informed. When a local prosecutor declines to comment on a criminal case, it is more than a personal decision to keep the information to a minimum; it is also a rule of professional conduct in Ohio.

            All Ohio lawyers must abide by the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct. Violations may lead to sanctions, including disbarment. The rules limit what lawyers can and cannot say leading up to a trial in order to safeguard the accused’s right to a fair trial. Potential jurors could be tainted by a public statement of counsel, and the rules are designed to prevent jurors from learning any information that may impair their ability to be fair and impartial.

Q:       Isn’t the prosecutor’s main duty to convict criminals?

A:        No. The prosecutor’s main duty is to seek justice. Unlike a defense attorney, who represents a specific client, the prosecutor must make decisions affecting the public interest as a whole. This means that the prosecutor has the duty to prosecute those who the prosecutor believes are guilty of committing crimes while also ensuring that the proceedings are fair and that justice is served. Sometimes this means the prosecutor will drop or reduce the charges if the prosecutor believes the suspect is innocent or there is insufficient evidence of guilt.

Q:       What kinds of information can the prosecutor give to news reporters before a trial?

A:        Before and during a trial, a prosecutor can give media information that is in the public record—information that citizens could obtain for themselves. According to the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct, other information the prosecutor may provide to media includes:

·       the identity, address and occupation of the suspect;

·       information that could be helpful in finding a suspect who has not been located or has escaped from authorities;

·       warnings to the public if the suspect is loose and is believed to be a serious threat to the safety of others;

·       a plea to the public for any information that may assist in the conviction of a defendant.

Q:       What are prosecutors prohibited from telling the press before a trial?
A:        Prosecutors should not:

·       comment on the character, credibility, reputation or prior criminal record of a suspect or witness before the trial;

·       comment on any potential guilty plea before it occurs;

·       disclose the results of any tests or examinations given to the suspect or conducted on the evidence to be presented, or the refusal or failure of a person to submit to a test or examination;

·       relate any confessions or other statements by the suspect to police;

·       comment on the guilt or innocence of a suspect;

·       Discuss evidence that they know will not be admissible in court.

This “Law You Can Use” column was provided by the Ohio State Bar Association. It was prepared by Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh and Columbus attorney Dan Trevas. Articles appearing in this column are intended to provide broad, general information about the law. Before applying this information to a specific legal problem, readers are urged to seek advice from an attorney.