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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Monday, March 18, 2024

Judge orders plaintiff in Gori Julian legal malpractice case to produce work comp records

Lawsuits
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LEBANON, Ohio – Warren County Circuit Judge Robert Peeler ordered a former client of Randy Gori and current associate judge Barry Julian to deliver records of her workers’ compensation claims to them.

Widow Kathy Jones, who alleges she released valuable claims on faulty advice from Gori and Julian, lost an argument that the state shouldn’t release her records.

“At its core, this case asks whether plaintiff was damaged by not being able to receive benefits under Ohio’s workers’ compensation laws,” Peeler wrote.

“Thus, what happened in plaintiff’s cases before the bureau of workers’ compensation is relevant.”

He issued his decision on May 7, after a May 1 hearing in chambers.

Gori and Julian filed an asbestos exposure suit for her husband Ralph Jones in 2011, in Madison County.

They named his former employer, AK Steel, among the defendants.

After he died, she and AK Steel settled for $210,000.

She sued Gori, Julian, their firm, and five of their lawyers in 2017, claiming they failed to tell her she would have received more from workers’ compensation than from their asbestos suit.

Gori and Julian moved to dismiss the suit so she could file it in Illinois.

Peeler denied the motion, and appellate judges affirmed him.     

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