And so it begins: a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge has ruled that domestic violence statutes cannot be used against an unmarried man accused of pushing and slapping his live-in girlfriend. The reason? Ohio’s new constitutional amendment prohibiting any law recognizing, creating or approximating a marital relationship for unmarried persons means “domestic violence” laws, drafted to protect “families”, recognize a marital-type relationship in unmarried persons.

Ooops.

Which leaves me in a quandary the next time I get an unmarried client in here who wants to file domestic violence charges against boyfriend/girlfriend/etc. We don’t know how other courts are going to rule on the issue if and when the other party brings it up, so yeah, you might be SOL. Personally, I think the judge’s decision is the right one, given how ridiculously broad the amendment was, but so far Cleveland’s the only place in the state that’s said as much…

(hat tip: Chris Geidner)