Update: on August 18, 2015, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in this case.  Read the analysis here.

Steve Granger, et al. v. Auto-Owners Insurance, et al., 2013-1527 was argued June 25, 2014, and still no decision. The issue in the case is an insurer’s duty to defend in a housing discrimination case. I didn’t think the case seemed all that complicated when it was argued, but I certainly know from experience that when it gets down to the record, cases can really fool you that way. Also, the bench was oddly cold during the oral argument of the case.

Read the oral argument preview of the case here and an analysis of the argument here.

Submission for over a year is unusual, and as I have written before, that much of a delay usually signals a serious split among the justices, an opinion that just won’t write, or the shifting of votes.

Sivit v. Village Green of Beachwood, L.P., Slip Opinion No. 2015-Ohio-1193 decided earlier this year, also took over a year to decide. In that case the court held that suit by a group of tenants against its landlords for violation of certain provisions of Ohio’s Landlord Tenant Act was a tort, and thus the cap on punitive damages codified at R.C. 2315.21(D)(2)(a) applied. Though the decision was unanimous, three justices concurred in judgment only.