J.R. was raised in north Florida, eventually migrating via graduate and law school to Ohio. Since his admission to the practice of law in 1979, he has worked in-house for two insurance companies, served as assistant city prosecutor for the city of Columbus, Ohio, and since 1982, been engaged in practice as a civil trial lawyer. He is AV rated* by Martindale-Hubbell since 1995.

J.R. has handled many significant cases involving injury and death related to auto accidents, defective products, electrocutions, medical negligence, brain injury, legal malpractice, truck accidents and airplane crashes. Several of these matters have resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements or verdicts.

• In 2016, JR recovered $500,000 for a motorcyclist who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she lost control of her motorcycle on an unmarked two lane country road, when she came up over the crest of a hill and saw a piece of farm machinery that was being legally towed by a pick-up truck in the opposite direction, but which extended across the center line of the roadway in to the opposite lane, but not into the motorcyclist’s line of travel. The motorcycle did not make contact with the farm equipment, and the motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet.
• In 2015, JR settled wrongful death cases on behalf of the estates of a married couple who were riding a motorcycle when an 85-year-old man, driving in the opposite lanes of travel, fell asleep at the wheel of his car and veered across a wide grassy median on a divided highway, striking their motorcycle. The case settled for the available $1.5 million in liability coverage, plus a personal payment of $25,000 from the other driver’s personal assets.
• Also in 2015, JR settled a case for $662,500 for the front seat passenger in a vehicle that was struck head on by another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction that swerved left of center to avoid hitting a third car that was traveling in the same direction as the one the client was in, but that had started to turn left and then stopped, straddling the middle of the two lane road. The client suffered a comminuted knee and hip fracture.
• In 2012, JR settled a claim on behalf of a truck driver, for $800,000, who was injured when the semi that he was operating rear-ended another semi that was illegally stopped on the highway and which was being driven by a trainee.
• In 2013, JR obtained a $2.8 million verdict on behalf of a psychiatric patient whose neck was broken when he was improperly restrained by untrained hospital personnel.
• In 2008, JR participated as trial counsel in a case against the Franklin County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office for its failure to properly respond to the repeated 911 calls for emergency help from a woman who was being physically and sexually assaulted, resulting in her murder, and the jury awarded a $2.75 million judgment. JR received the 2008 Louisville Slugger Award from the Central Ohio Association for Justice for his work on this case.
• JR participated as trial counsel in a case that resulted in a multimillion-dollar verdict for a Wisconsin woman severely injured while riding a roller coaster at a northeast Ohio amusement park.
• In 2004, JR participated in the representation of an individual who experienced a severe brain injury as a result of being rear-ended by a semi tractor on the inner city portion of Interstate 70.
• In 2003, he participated in a case that was resolved for the benefit of a minor who suffered a traumatic brain injury when a semi truck pulled in front of the vehicle driven by his mother. Guaranteed payout was in excess of $9 million, with a full life expectancy payout in excess of $21 million.
• In 2001, JR tried to verdict a medical malpractice case in Hamilton County, Ohio, resulting in a $1.5 million verdict on behalf of his client.

*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.