ATTORNEY BIO - John G. Witherspoon, Jr.

Otte v. Dayton Power & Light Co. (1988), 37 Ohio St. 3d 33, 523 N.E. 835, holding that strict liability for damages caused by neutral-to-earth voltage is not a cause of action that may be asserted against a public utility was the very first case John worked on when he started at Freund, Freeze, and Arnold. John has extensive experience in state and federal courts in cases and claims for personal injury, wrongful death, insurance bad faith, and first party property claims dealing with insurance contract interpretation, arson, theft, business interruption, co-insurance, actual cash value, and replacement cost value issues. He has represented real estate agents and insurance agents in E & O Claims. He also represents clients in numerous construction cases on a wide variety of issues and has a particular expertise in representing architects and engineers. John wrote an article entitled The Tyranny of the Eichleay Formula, Trial Notes, Government Law, Vol. Viii, Issue 1. He spends a lot of his professional time involved in fire claims and cases and has significant experience in complex fire scene analysis and claims including natural gas fires and explosions. John deposed approximately 2,500 fact witness and expert witnesses in a wide variety of subjects. In addition to John's extensive experience in arbitrations and mediations, John has tried approximately 80 cases to jury verdict.

John worked as a dairy farmer for seven years and worked for another Dayton law firm for three years before Freund, Freeze, and Arnold. John enjoys studying the American Civil War and has been to many Civil War battlefields a number of times. He also likes to read Greek and Latin classical works and translates Latin every day. In his spare time, John is translates Latin poems. For example, John translated the Agricola by Tacitus. Cicero once defended the Poet Archias in a case in which the ostensible issue was whether he was a Roman citizen. The case was really about one faction in Rome wanting Archias out of town because he wrote superb poems of praise for the other faction. Poetry was a major form of PR in ancient Rome. In his argument to the jury, Cicero said "Quaeres a nobis, Grati, cur tanto opera hoc homine delectemur. Quia suppeditat nobis ubi et animus ex hoc forensic strepitu reficiatur et aures convicio defessae conquiescant." [You seek from us, Gratius (the prosecutor), why we delight in such works or in this man. It is because he nourishes us when the soul is remade from this forensic noise and the ears, wearied from the courtroom, grow quite.] In addition, John taught in the Paralegal Program at Sinclair Community College from 1994 to 1997.

John has a passionate belief in hard work, reads a lot, and constantly likes to learn new things.