Appeals panel agrees that failure to read document doesn't null contract

KEITH ARNOLD, Daily Reporter Staff Writer
A Franklin County appellate panel was unable to conclude that the Franklin County Municipal Court's determination in a breach of contract suit between a specialty home-cleaning service and the next of kin of a Grove City man who died in his home was against the manifest weight of the evidence in a recent decision.

"Upon our review of the record, we find no error in the trial court's determination that an enforceable contract existed between the parties," 10th District Court of Appeals Judge Patrick McGrath wrote for the 3-0 court.

The appellate court's holding overruled Nancy Buffington's claim that the trial court was mistaken to find that the contract between her and the cleaning service was enforceable and, therefore, obligated the woman to utilize the company's services per the agreed terms.

Buffington's father died in his home on Nov. 10, 2005, case summary provided. The man's body was discovered one-and-a-half to two days after his death. Approximately one week later, the personal belongings were removed from the home and it was listed for sale.

On Jan. 14, 2006, Buffington contracted for the services of Aftermath Inc., which provides biological remediation and cleanup services. According to the contract, the woman agreed to pay for cleanup services concerning an unattended death in the Grove City home.

Aftermath's complaint alleged that after the firm rendered services, appellant refused to pay the amount due under the contract. After a trial to the bench, the trial court concluded that a valid written contract existed between the parties and that the company was entitled to payment for the services rendered in accordance with the contract. The court awarded damages in the amount of $6,189.36 to Aftermath.

The panel noted Buffington signed both a site cleanup agreement and a fee agreement for non-insurance-related jobs. Additionally, the court rejected the woman's claim there existed no evidence that she understood or agreed to biological remediation of her father's home.

"... As noted by the trial court, appellant's stated failure to read the documents prior to signing them is of no consequence as it is well-established that the failure to read the terms of a contract is not a valid defense to enforcement of the contract," as in Haller v. Borror Corp. (1990), 50 Ohio St.3d 10, 14.

"Further, appellant's argument that she was 'mistaken' equally fails because 'relief for a unilateral mistake of material fact will not be provided where such mistake is the result of the negligence of the party seeking relief,'" as in Hikmet v. Turkoglu, 10th Dist. No. 08AP-1021, 2009-Ohio-6477, and Marshall v. Beach (2001), 143 Ohio App.3d 432, 437.

Fellow 10th District Judge Susan Brown and John Connor joined McGrath to form the majority.

The case is cited as Aftermath Inc. v. Buffington, 2010-Ohio-19.

Date Published: January 19, 2010

Haiti Relief Mission - Update 01-18-2010

A team of twenty from H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 will be responding to take part in the relief effort in earthquake-ravaged Haiti on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. They will land in Santo Domingo and use that as a jumping off point to Haiti. Our members will join in the herculean task of helping that devastated country. They have medical supplies and expertise that are so badly needed in this decimated area.

We have received a tremendous response from our members to our request for participation in a relief mission. The first deployment will see a team of twenty volunteers from H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 evaluate the situation and, if need be, more relief missions will be planned.

Our thanks go out to all and we ask for your continued support and prayers. H.E.A.R.T. 9/11 will be able to help those in need because we have received tremendous support and funding from the benevolence of Jefferies & Company (Jefferies is an independent, full-service securities and investment banking firm serving companies and their investors globally. Check out this article from their website at: Jefferies - Haiti Relief News Story). We thank them as well.
Hopefully, there will be updates from wherever the team is and we ask that you will go to our website at: www.HEART911.org

The owner of Bio-Recovery Corporation, Ron Gospodarski will be amongest this group of twenty police, firefighter and paramedics. We wish them Godspeed in there endeavors.

Teen Suicide Risk Factors: Parents Are Too Often Clueless

By Nancy Shute

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, and it's a tragedy that can be prevented. Given that almost 15 percent of high school students say they've seriously considered suicide in the past year, parents and friends need to know how to recognize when a teenager is in trouble and how to help.

Parents can be clueless when it comes to recognizing suicide risk factors, or at least more clueless than teens. In a new survey of teenagers and parents in Chicago and in the Kansas City, Kan., area, which appears online in Pediatrics, both parents and teenagers said that teen suicide was a problem, but not in their community. Alas, teen suicide is a universal problem; no area is immune.

The teenagers correctly said that drug and alcohol use was a big risk factor for suicide, with some even noting that drinking and drug use could be a form of self-medication or self-harm. By contrast, many of the parents shrugged off substance abuse as acceptable adolescent behavior. As one parent told the researchers: "Some parents smoke pot with their kids or allow their kids to drink."

Both teenagers and parents said that guns should be kept away from a suicidal teen. But since parents said they didn't think they could determine when a teenager was suicidal, parents should routinely lock up firearms, the researchers suggest. That makes sense. Firearms are used in 43.1 percent of teen suicides, according to 2006 data, while suffocation or hanging accounts for 44.9 percent.

The good news: Both parents and teenagers in this small survey (66 teenagers and 30 parents) said they'd like more help learning how to know when someone is at risk of committing suicide and what to do. Schools and pediatricians should be able to help, but we can all become better educated through reliable resources on the Web. These authoritative sites list typical signs of suicide risk, and they also provide questions a parent or a friend can ask a teenager to find out if he is considering killing himself. Here are good places to start:

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry lists signs and symptoms of suicidal thinking, such as saying things like "I won't be a problem for you much longer."

The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to ask the child directly about suicide. "Getting the word out in the open may help your teenager think someone has heard his cries for help."

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free advice to someone considering suicide, as well as to friends and relatives, at 800-273-TALK.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness's teenage suicide page makes the point that talking with someone about suicide will not "give them the idea." "Bringing up the question of suicide and discussing it without showing shock or disapproval is one of the most helpful things you can do," the NAMI site says. "This openness shows that you are taking the individual seriously and responding to the severity of his or her distress."

Teen depression and suicide risk linked to late bedtimes and chronic sleep deprivation

A report from the Jan. 1, 2010 issue of the journal Sleep found a surprising link between the typically late bedtimes of teenagers and teen depression and suicide.

Parent-set bedtimes affect teen's mental state

Adolescents with parent-set bedtimes after midnight had a 24% increased incidence of depression and a 20% increase in suicidal thoughts compared to teens with a bedtime before 10 pm.

Most of the teens in the study reported adhering to the bedtimes their parents set for them, showing that it's up to parents to give appropriate guidelines for avoiding sleep deprivation.

Length of Sleep Matters for Adolescents

The length of sleep matters, too, according to the researchers. Teenagers who reported getting less than five hours of sleep a night had a 71% higher risk of depression and a 48% higher risk of suicidal thoughts than adolescents who got 8 hours or more of sleep.

The AASM (The American Academy of Sleep Medicine) recommends nine or more hours of sleep a night for adolescents.

The study was conducted by James E. Gangwisch, PhD, assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y and colleagues and looked at over 15,000 teenagers' sleep habits and mental states. The teens in the study ranged from 12-17 years old.

Other studies indicate more benefits from increased teen sleep.

In previous studies, shorter sleep durations in children and teens have been linked to higher rates of obesity, school performance and general social well-being. And adolescents who don't get enough sleep due to insomnia are far more likely to develop mental health problems, including substance abuse.

National Study Finds Highest Rate Of Suicide On Wednesdays

By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER

The Hartford Courant

July 11, 2009

Nearly a quarter of suicides in the U.S. occur on Wednesdays, about twice as many as almost every other day of the week, a new study has found.

The study, published in the journal Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, contradicts earlier findings that suicides are more common on Mondays and left experts puzzling over what may be behind Wednesday's grim distinction.

Is it something about the middle of the week? Job stresses piling up, potentially overwhelming people who already see their problems as insurmountable?

"It may be just that it feels like there's no way out on Wednesday, [it's] too long to wait for the weekend," said Theodore Mucha, medical director at the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital. Like other experts, he cautioned that his explanation was just a guess.

Researchers Augustine J. Kposowa and Stephanie D'Auria at the University of California, Riverside, examined data from U.S. death records from 2000 to 2004, focusing on adult suicides.

They found that 24.6 percent of suicides occurred on Wednesdays. The next-highest rates were 14.4 percent on Saturdays and 14.3 percent on Mondays. The fewest suicides occurred on Thursdays — 11.1 percent.

Kposowa and D'Auria also found that more suicides occurred in summer and spring than in fall or winter, contrasting with traditional thinking that winter months bring more risk of suicide.

Other parts of the study were consistent with previous research, showing that men are more likely to take their lives than women, and people who are divorced, white, educated or living in non-metropolitan areas have a higher risk of suicide.

The day of the week findings represent something new.

"This really does tell us something different," said Nina Heller, a social work professor at the University of Connecticut. "What it doesn't yet tell us is the why of that."

Heller said she had been "scratching my brain" since learning of the study, trying to think of a reason for the Wednesday peak in suicides. Maybe, she said, people who are already suffering from a mental illness and struggling to get through the week see Wednesday as a halfway point. "Perhaps they can't push any further," she said.

People who take their own lives often have lost perspective, becoming so despondent they lose track of things that might help them get through the day, said Charles Atkins, attending psychiatrist at Waterbury Hospital.

"One of the obvious speculations about Wednesday is that it's work-related, that people have become so caught up in the stress of the work week that whatever it is that's going on or is on their plate seems unsurmountable and suicide seems like a way out," he said.

Other national studies have indicated that working Americans typically list their jobs as their top source of stress, which Atkins said may lend weight to the idea that the Wednesday suicide peak could be related to the work week.

Kposowa also pointed to workplace stress as a potential explanation and believes changes in Americans' work and family life may be behind the shift in suicide's concentration from Mondays to Wednesdays.

Increased economic competition worldwide has threatened job security for many workers, heightening stress, frustration and even feelings of betrayal, said Kposowa, a sociology professor. "Individuals work harder and harder, but seem to be losing ground; they have little or nothing to show for their labor — especially among those who depend on others for wages," he wrote in an e-mail. "It is highly likely that the middle of the week (represented by Wednesday) is when these stressors and feelings of hopelessness are at their highest."

People may have once viewed Wednesday as the day you got over in order to look forward to a relaxed weekend, he said. But perhaps many Americans now see the next weekend as too far away.

Kposowa suggested that suicide prevention hot lines examine which days of the week call volumes are highest and consider placing more staff on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Mondays. Mental health workers might also consider scheduling more patient appointments on Wednesdays, he said.

Several mental health workers said they had not noticed a link between Wednesdays and an increased risk of suicide. More than 25,000 people kill themselves in the U.S. each year, an average of slightly more than one per day in each state, so trends that might be apparent from thousands of cases would not likely be noticed by individual mental health workers or programs.

A Courant analysis of Connecticut figures showed a different day distribution: from 2001 to 2004, no day stood out as sharply as Wednesday did in the national study. Most suicides — 16.7 percent — occurred on Tuesday, while 16.4 percent occurred on Monday and 14.5 percent on Wednesday. Thursday had the lowest occurrence, 12.1 percent. The data showed 966 adult suicides, a small fraction of the 131,636 in the national sample.

Seasonal suicide variations in Connecticut did reflect the national findings, with most occurring in summer and spring and fewer in winter and fall.

The seasonal figures contradict previous findings, but they didn't surprise Michael Levinson, director of clinical services at the Capitol Region Mental Health Center. He works nights in an emergency room and has gotten used to seeing more psychiatric emergencies in the spring.

"We always sort of look forward to spring gritting our teeth," he said.

While traditional thinking has focused on winter, with its cold weather and lack of sunlight, as a more common season for suicide, Levinson has a theory about why it may not be so: People think it's normal to be depressed in the winter. "Spring is the time of year when people are supposed to be rejuvenated and outside and enjoying themselves, and if you're not, it makes you feel comparatively worse than everybody else, which may make you feel more hopeless," he said.

Cleanup completed at Civic Association

April 5, 2009

Cleanup has been completed at the American Civic Association building in Binghamton, where a gunman killed 13 people and injured four before taking his own life Friday.

The American Bio-Recovery Association, a non-profit international association of crime and trauma scene professionals, said Sunday that the bio-recovery cleaning was complete. The Ipswich, Mass.-based group provided the service at no cost.

Two member companies, Disaster Clean Up of Endwell and the Bio-Recovery Corporation of New York City, donated labor and supplies to remediate the scene with a crew of six technicians.

Bio-Recovery Corporation Aids In Binghamton Crime Scene Cleanup

PRESS RELEASE
April 5th 2009

Bio-Recovery Corporation of New York City and Diaster Scene Cleanup of Endwell, NY responded to the American Civic Association on April 5th 2009 at the request of the American Bio-Recovery Association to aid the American Civic Association and the entire Binghamton community with the cleanup of the crime scene left in the aftermath of Fridays multiple homicide, suicide at their offices located at 131 Front St Binghamton, NY.

At the request of Dale Cillian, President of the non profit American Bio-Recovery Association (ABRA), the two named companies above provided all the labor and equipment to complete this cleanup in one day at no cost to the American Civic Association. "I couldn't have done this without you guys," stated Andrew Baranoski, Executive Director of the non-profit American Civic Association.

The American Bio Recovery Association, an international association of Crime & Trauma Scene Cleanup professionals strives to make these services available to all that require it throughout the United States.