So what happens when two law professors marry and later decide to divorce? It would appear that the result is a long drawn out conflict where neither side refuses to quit. Two Ohio law professors are currently engaged in a dispute that has lasted seventeen years at this point- seven years longer than their ten-year marriage did. The divorce itself took five years, which is approximately five times longer than a typical case would take.
Many Ohio legal professionals are disgruntled by this dispute in which nearly fourteen hundred entries have been filed. The Ohio 1st District Court wrote: “This court has not seen many domestic relations cases more contentious and acrimonious… The parties, who are both law professors and ought to know better, engaged in thoroughly inappropriate behavior that was detrimental to the resolution of their case and to the welfare of their children for which both claimed to be primarily concerned.”
Both parties’ resilience has perverted the foundation of the court system designed to resolve disputes. However, it is the nature of the United States legal system to allow such instances to proceed until a resolution is reached. Christo Lassiter, the male party in the dispute, maintains that the reasoning for the length of the case has been being a good parent, not spite or revenge and that if “a court stepped in and resolved the major issues cleanly and early, there would not have been voluminous (legal filings).” Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Leslie Ghiz thinks that both should be admonished by the Ohio Bar Association for their action as they are establishing poor precedent and are acting as dismal role models for the student they teach.
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