Judges of Lucas County

Judge James D. Bates

Judge Gary Byers

Judge James G. Carr

Judge Robert G. Christiansen

Judge Stacy L. Cook

Judge Denise Ann Dartt

Judge Charles J. Doneghy

Judge Ruth Ann Franks

Judge R. Michael Goulding

Judge Peter M. Handwork

Judge Linda J. Jennings

Judge James D. Jensen

Judge David A. Katz

Judge Jeffery B. Keller

Judge Timothy C. Kuhlman

Judge David Lewandowski

Judge C. Allen McConnell

Judge Frederick H. McDonald

Judge, Denise Navarre-Cubbon

Judge Thomas J. Osowik

Judge S. Dwight Osterud

Judge Mark L. Pietrykowski

Judge Jack R. Puffenberger

Judge M. Scott Ramey

Judge Lynn H. Schaefer

Judge Arlene Singer

Judge William J. Skow

Judge Richard L. Speer

Judge Connie Zemmelman

Judge Norman Zemmelman

Judge Gene A. Zmuda
Date Published: Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Copyright 2007, 2008 Toledo Legal News
Toledo feels like home to native New Yorker Judge Norman Zemmelman
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
âDo you know the opening line from Anna Karenina? âAll happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own wayâ. Thatâs really what we do here.â Judge Norman Zemmelman, the Administrative Judge of Lucas Countyâs Domestic Relations Court, is a dispute arbitrator, a uniter of people. âEvery case is memorable where the parties get together and resolve their problems. Whether itâs through a judgeâs involvement, a magistrateâs involvement or court counseling, in Domestic Relations Court, helping people remedy, solving their problems makes cases memorable.â
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Energetic and committed to kids, Judge Connie Zemmelman shines in Juvenile Court
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
Judge Connie Zemmelman, of the Juvenile Division of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas likes bold, bright colors. This is obvious. You know that about her even before she tells you. You can see it in her lively walk and eyes that shine surprisingly bright.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Laconic judge waxes poetic on Churchill and General Sherman
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
In Toledo, the Bankruptcy court is housed in the old, historic Court and Custom House building on Spielbusch Avenue. It sits on the landscape, dominate. It is squat and long, its beige and brown bricks rise up royally from the ground. Itâs a quietly beautiful old building, in a style of architecture now only seen in Hollywood period pieces. While in the winter, when the building is capped with snow and the cold pavement walkway leading to the front door is flanked by hard, brittle frosted grass, the Custom House can seem almost Dickensian; in the summertime itâs homey tan coloring contrasts nicely with the greenery that blooms and blossoms around it. On a warm June day the Custom House could almost be an old school building or one of those glitzy, ritzy historic New York hotels scaled down and made appropriate for Toledo. Itâs a reassuring thought that a building so lovingly crafted and beautifully built can have stood the test of time
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Judge Skow: Vietnam; Capital Hill; Toledo - a biography through geography
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
In 1961 then-FCC chairman Newton Minow informed America that to watch television was to, â[observe] a vast wasteland.â While Minow may have been right on as far as many adults were concerned, the young William Skow, known today as the Honorable Judge Skow of the 6th District Court of Appeals would have vehemently disagreed. After all, television not only let him follow his favorite sports teams from his living room in Toledo, it also sparked the Judge's initial interest in politics, and that interest has carried him through political campaigns, a stint in Washington and seats on three different courts.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Municipal Court Judge Lynn Schaefer - Tough on crime, cancer
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Star Writer
Municipal Court Judge Lynn Schaefer is strong. You donât grow up on a farm as the daughter of a single parent without becoming reliable, steady and morally grounded. You donât long last the grind of a Municipal Court judgeship without having deep personal reservoirs to tap. Doubly so if, like Judge Schaefer, youâve just recently proved that youâre also stronger than cancer.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
For Judge Pietrykowski, his family history is a chance to leave his own legacy
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
Appeals Court Judge Mark Pietrykowski is a man with a pedigree. His family is an institution in Toledo. His father was a Federal Magistrate. His uncle served as Clerk of Courts. One great uncle served as Parish Priest to St. Hedwigâs, another was on the city counsel during the 1930âs. Former Toledo Mayor John Carey, is a relative of his. His mother sat on the school board, was a member of the city counsel and served as vice mayor. The first hit when googling the name âPietrykowskiâ brings up a web site about the law firm founded by his grandfather.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Newly elected to the 6th District Court of Appeals, Judge Osowik is ready for new challenges
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
Recent addition to the 6th District Court of Appeals Judge Osowik met his future bride for the first time while an undergrad at the University of Toledo. Thomas Osowik was introduced by some colleagues of his to a young pharmacy student named Rosemarie. âShe was home coming queen and I don't know why she ever dated me,â jokes the Judge.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
From Vista to Juvenile Court Judge, Denise Navarre-Cubbon is still helping people
Michael A. Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
In Chambers with Judge Navarre-Cubbon
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Toledo's been great to a judge who first came to town with a coat hanger for a car antenna
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
In chambers with... Judge Frederick McDonald
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
New Muni judge speaks Latin, plays drums
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
In chambers with...
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Family, neighborhood, teacher & church guided Judge Doneghy
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
Judge Charles J. Doneghyâs father left when he was six. Young Charles was the third of four children. Mom, Bessie, had a high school education. She cleaned houses, took in other familiesâ clothes and laundered them. At six in the morning she would bundle up with two or three sweaters against the winter cold and make her way to the bus while her children went off to school. In the summer the Doneghy children would stay with their grandfather until Bessie had finished her work for the day.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Judge Denise Ann Dartt has blazed many trails
MICHAEL DAVISSON, TOLEDO LEGAL NEWS STAFF WRITER
Common Pleas Judge Denise Dartt has led the life of a trailblazer. She is a pioneer, in many instances a first: first woman to chair the Ohio Judicial Conference; first woman to serve as president of the Ohio Municipal County Judges Association. She was even one of the first women (girl, really) to work a paper route.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
...And sure enough we got a different lunch lady.
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
Armed with petitions and a willingness to speak up, Judge Stacy Cook is glad to be at Common Pleas People in the law tend to fall into three categories. There are people who never planned to work in law, people for whom law was just one possible career and people for whom there was never any profession but law. Stacy Cook, a judge in the Common Pleas court, falls squarely into the third category.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Judge Christiansen trades drum sticks for gavel
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
A solidly built man who moves with the confidence that comes from possessing a powerful frame, Municipal Court Judge Robert G. Christiansen has the weather beaten looks, cheeks blown raw by the wind and burned red by the sun, of a man who spends plenty of time on a boat. Which, of course, he does. âI'm a boating nut, and anybody who knows me knows that.â And even if you didn't know him, you could guess. In his office hangs paintings by Marblehead resident Ben Richmond depicting light houses and boats being restored by men who love the nautical craft.
Copyright © 2007, Toledo Legal News
Music man Judge Byers loves to help people both in, and out, of his courtroom
Michael Davisson, Toledo Legal News Staff Writer
For the past twelve years, Judge Gary Byers, who sits on the Municipal Court Bench in Maumee, has spent his Friday afternoons at Union Elementary School, playing guitar and leading early education sing-alongs. âWhat's lovely is at that age kids have no inhibitions. If they don't like you, they'll tell you. But if they do like you, they'll run right up and hug you.â Tall enough and built appropriately to play power forward, it's hard not to imagine the school children using the affable, easy-going judge as a human jungle gym. âI'm a big hit with first graders. It goes downhill as they get older.â