Today, Attorney Collum was advised of a reduction in property valuation through the Summit County Board of Revision of over 23% for the benefit of his client, a residential property owner on the Portage Lakes in Summit County, Ohio. The result was obtained through an appeal to the Board of Revision because of a recent sale to the property saving the homeowner thousands of dollars.

Attorney Collum successfully reversed a decision of the State of Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission ordering a Claimant to repay almost $40,000.00 due to alleged fraud. The facts, in summary, involved an individual who collected unemployment for almost two years. After receiving almost $40,000.00, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services ordered all monies received by the Claimant repaid due to fraud and the fact the Claimant was allegedly unavailable for work. After a number of appeals (which were denied),the Claimant filed a Request for Review and another hearing was held where it was found by the hearing officer that the Claimant did not engage in fraud, was available for work and the Claimant was permitted to retain the #38,788.00 in unemployment benefits previously paid by the ODJFS.

Attorney Collum recently secured a advantageous confidential sexual harassment settlement on behalf of a minor female against her former employer. This case involved pervasive sexual harassment as well as issues of retaliation as well as failure to investigate complaints of sexual harassment made by the minor to her supervisor.

Attorney Collum was, once again, listed as a “Rising Star” in the 2013 Publication of Ohio Super Lawyers, Business Edition, in the area of employment law and labor law

The Law Office of James J. Collum assists individuals in a wide variety of adminstrative law issues and claims, including administrative appeals within the State of Ohio as well as assisting professionals whose licensure is regulated and governed by the State of Ohio. If you have any questions regarding an issue or matter you are currently facing, please call us and we would be happy to assist you in answering any questions you may have regarding Ohio adminstirative law.

One of the most difficult decisions for many people is determine whether to conduct their appeal before the State of Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission (“UCRC”) on the telephone or live, and in person, which if you are in Northeast Ohio, means you will be travelling to Richmond Heights, Ohio, which is at least one hour from the Akron/Canton area. This is a decision which should not be taken lightly, and once your appeal reaches the juncture where this decision needs to be made, consulting with an attorney experienced in this area of the law will afford you the best opportunity to make the right decision for your case. Attorney Collum has handled over 250 unemployment hearings since 1999 and would be happy to provide you a free consultation on any matter involved with your unemployment appeal within the State of Ohio.

There have been recent changes to the scheduling of telephone hearings before the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission (“UCRC”). As an unemployment appeal, either by a Claimant or the Employer, works its way through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (“ODJFS”), there are certain appeal deadlines that need to be met, which later in the process, are twenty-one (21) days. Previously, once the appeal reached the UCRC, you received notice it would be set for hearing, you would order the complete Director’s File and wait a month or two before it would be set for hearing a month or two after that. Now, the UCRC has received orders to begin expediting the process as they had received numerous complaints the process was taking far too long. While this was true, now the process is moving too fast, and the danger is the matter is set for hearing so quickly, you only have a matter of a few days, if not a day or two, to receive the Director’s File containing the opposing party’s filings relevant to the unemployment appeal. This change greatly reduces the opportunity to properly prepare for the hearing and reinforces the importance of making an electronic request for the Director’s File the same day you received notice that the UCRC has received your appeal. This will give you valuable extra time to prepare for the telephone hearing.

Attorney Collum recently secured a confidential $60,000.00 settlement to a short-term company employee subjected to a sexually inappropriate work enviroment during her brief tenure with her employer.

Attorney Collum recently received a reversal upon a request for review of a denial of unemployment compensation which awarded a former employee approximately $10,000.00 of unemployment compensation after repeated denials of compensation throughout the unemployment process.

Attorney Collum has been invited for national membership into The National Trial Lawyers Association’s Top 40 lawyers under the age of 40 years old in the State of Ohio.