Marie Hoover

It is important to have experience in many facets of the law to be an effective and thoughtful appellate judge. Litigants in Ohio have one appeal “as of right.” The Court of Appeals must hear all cases that are appealed; therefore, we decide all different types of cases. My diverse and extensive legal experience qualifies me to decide all of these different types of cases as an appellate judge. I practiced law for over 18 years prior to being elected to the bench. I have extensive jury and bench trial experience in criminal and civil law, in state and federal courts. I have handled approximately 70 appeals, in Ohio and Kentucky, state and federal courts. I wrote the briefs for all of those cases. I did the oral arguments for a large portion of those cases that were not decided on the briefs. I have handled administrative cases, such as workers compensation, social security, disability, and employment cases. I have additional legal experience with wrongful imprisonment litigation in the Ohio Court of Claims; Chapter 7 bankruptcies; adversary proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court; and civil rights cases and habeas corpus in federal courts. I have extensive experience doing bench trials in domestic relations, juvenile, and probate cases; and doing jury trials for personal injury cases, contract and land disputes, etc. I have been a law director for Waverly and a solicitor for Piketon so I have also worked with city/ village councils and municipal codes and ordinances, zoning and even bridge annexations. I have been a defense attorney as a contract attorney for the Ohio Public Defender’s Office. I defended indigents in felony and misdemeanor cases in Pike County and Adams County. As the law director for Waverly and the Solicitor for Piketon, I prosecuted the cases that were charged in those jurisdictions. I would also handle any conflict cases that the Pike County Prosecutor’s Office would have as its special prosecutor. I have tried both jury trials and bench trials for these criminal cases. I have engaged in mediations as both the mediator and as a representative of a party. I am currently an adjunct faculty member for Shawnee State University teaching legal research and writing. In the past, I have taught wills, estates, trusts, probate, real estate ,and business law. All of my legal experience has culminated into being an effective and thoughtful appellate judge.

I am running for re-election this year after serving my first term on the Fourth District Court of Appeals. I ran originally for this seat in 2012 because I had litigated for over 18 years; and I had experienced what I perceived as unfairness to my clients and me. I, like much of the public, had begun to lose faith in the legal system. I wanted to bring my sense of fairness to the court system. I felt that I was more in touch with the public and my clients; and that I could make a positive impact on the judiciary. Also, a woman had never been elected to the Fourth District Court of Appeals, nor had a minority–and I wanted to change that. I have always been an extremely hard worker; and I wanted to bring this tenacity and work ethic to the bench. Since I have been on the bench, I often speak with school groups, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, civic organizations, etc. to make it more “normal” to have a woman and a minority as a judge. I participate often in community events. I believe that this helps with transparency of the judiciary; and it helps the public have more confidence in us. I am running for this particular court seat because I want to continue the positive work that I have done in my first term. I think it is important to have diversity on the bench; and I provide that to the Court. The majority of the Court of Appeals elected me as the Presiding and Administrative Judge of the Court because they have confidence in me; they know that I am reliable and dependable; and that I work hard and I care deeply about our Fourth District.