Our firm
The attorneys at Cohen Rosenthal & Kramer LLP do not back down from a fight no matter how formidable the opponent. CRK represents individuals and businesses in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and negotiations. We represent victims of corporate and institutional wrongdoing, from employees to investors to entrepreneurs to those harmed by legal malpractice. The firm also regularly represents individuals and businesses accused of violating contractual, common law or statutory duties. A substantial portion of CRK’s practice involves class actions and other complex litigation.
Cohen Rosenthal & Kramer brings together four experienced litigators with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Our firm’s common focus is solving the client’s problem by the means best suited to the client’s situation. For those who are injured or deprived of their rights, that means aggressive pursuit of legal claims to maximize the client’s recovery. For those falsely accused of wrongdoing, it means skillful maneuvering to extricate the client from the difficulty at the earliest possible time. For still others, it means crafting an innovative solution that avoids legal action altogether.
Our firm is committed to fighting for the right causes no matter how challenging the case or how powerful the opponent. CRK attorneys believe that hard work and ingenuity can overcome long odds and right and wrong still make a difference. To every matter, we bring the determination, skill, and creativity that have enabled us to achieve successful results for so many clients and class members.
Jason R. Bristol, Partner
Key Practice Areas:
Arbitration and Mediation; Civil Rights; Class and Collective Actions; Consumer Law; Employment Law; Wage and Hour
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Jason R. Bristol is an advocate for working people. He represents employees from the shop floor to the C-suite, and has recovered millions for his clients through negotiation and litigation. Law and Politics Magazine has described him as a “Super Lawyer” in plaintiffs’ employment litigation. Handling class and collective actions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and various state laws, he has recovered millions of dollars in unpaid wages and overtime compensation for workers across the United States. He also handles employment and civil rights cases involving illegal discrimination based upon age, gender, race, national origin, sexual orientation, and pay inequity. In addition to his litigation practice, he routinely serves as a mediator in complex wage and hour disputes.
Joshua R. Cohen, Partner
Key Practice Areas:
Defamation; Employment Law (Civil Service); Fiduciary Duty; Fraud; Investments; Legal Malpractice; Securities Law
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Josh Cohen has a reputation for innovative, cutting-edge, and courageous litigation earned over more than 30 years of practice in complex civil and commercial litigation. His clients have included investors, employees, consumers, receivers, municipalities, and bankruptcy trustees in disputes ranging from legal malpractice to investment fraud, public nuisance to corporate and trust disputes.
Josh began his career at a mid-sized regional firm, where he devoted much of his practice to representation of one of the nation’s largest investment brokerage firms. Josh sat first-chair in three jury trials for this client, winning each of them. He also represented the firm in securities industry arbitrations, successfully defending it from a number of multi-million-dollar claims.
Marrissa S. Murph, Paralegal and Practice Manager
(216) 815-9500
office@crklaw.com
Marrissa S. Murph joined Cohen, Rosenthal & Kramer as the Paralegal and Practice Manager in the summer of 2021. In her role, Marrissa wears many hats including providing support to the firm in its daily operations and handling various tasks during the legal process for the firm’s clients. She brings with her nearly a decade of experience as a Paralegal working with in-house counsel at the corporate level as well as an immeasurable amount of time working with the community through her time as a child social worker and a soup kitchen volunteer. Additionally, Marrissa serves as an Advisory Board Member to Project NICU, whose mission of supporting those touched by the NICU is near and dear to her heart.
Marrissa graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Baldwin-Wallace University (formerly Baldwin-Wallace College) and earned a post-degree certificate in Paralegal Studies from Cuyahoga County Community College.
Ellen M. Kramer, Partner
Key Practice Areas:
Access to Justice; Contract Law; Consumer Rights; Fiduciary Duty; Fraud; Legal Malpractice
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Ellen Maglicic Kramer is a founding member of Cohen Rosenthal & Kramer LLP. After law school, Ellen served as a law clerk for United States Bankruptcy Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr., who now serves as Chief Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Ellen’s practice focuses on sophisticated corporate and commercial disputes. She has represented consumers, shareholders, debtors, creditors, receivers, bankruptcy trustees, public school districts, limited liability companies, employees and victims of legal malpractice.
James B. Rosenthal, Partner
Key Practice Areas:
Arbitration; Contract Law; Corporate Disputes; Family Business; Disputes; Fiduciary Duty; Fraud; Insurance Coverage; Securities Law
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Jim Rosenthal is an experienced and effective commercial litigator and a SuperLawyer®. He has developed a reputation for creative analysis, independent judgment and strategic thinking. He is known for decisive and energetic written and oral advocacy from the conference room to the courtroom. Jim has won significant victories for clients in federal and state courts and in binding arbitration. He has handled cases for investors, shareholders, entrepreneurs, athletes, physicians and other professionals, financial institutions and other businesses in disputes where the outcome is measured in dollars, but the stakes just as often involve a career, a reputation, a critical business relationship, or an individual or entity’s future.
CRK lawyers know how to win. Here is a list of just a few of our successes:
Flack Steel LLC, et al. v. SS&G, Inc., et al., Cuyahoga County Case No. CV-17-882802 (June 7, 2019) (won $735,000 jury verdict in accounting malpractice case)
Binder et al., v. Cuyahoga County, 8th Dist. Ohio Nos. 106665, 106666 (Apr. 4, 2019) (affirming class certification on behalf of county workers alleging theft of millions of dollars in wages by the County)
Clark v. State Teachers Retirement System, 10th Dist. Ohio No. 18AP-105 (Nov. 21, 2018) (overturned summary judgment on behalf of state college professors from whom the State Teachers Retirement System allegedly unlawfully collected millions in mitigating rate charges)
Crosby v. Stingray Pressure Pumping, LLC, Case No. 2:17-cv-00080 (S.D. Ohio September 28, 2018) ($300,000 settlement for six allegedly misclassified Field Engineers working in the hydraulic fracturing industry)
Vasquez et al. v. The Scott’s Company, LLC et al., Case No. 17-cv-60344 (S.D. FL November 30, 2017) (Conditionally certified nationwide collective action for 3500 employees who allege illegal use of the Fluctuating Workweek method of computing overtime compensation)
In re RS Legacy Corporation, et al., Case No. 1:15-10197 (Bankr. D. Del. August 29, 2016) ($41,000,000 class action settlement resulting in allowed general unsecured claim for 7,500 store managers who alleged illegal use of the Fluctuating Workweek method of computing overtime compensation)
Brodzenski v. StoneMor Partners, L.P., 2015 WL 3442323 (N.D. Ohio May 28, 2015) ($2,328,000 settlement of fully certified nationwide FLSA collective action for a class of sales counselors who were allegedly forced to report fewer hours than they actually worked)
Jewell v. Aaron’s, Inc., (N.D. Ga. 2015) ($1,300,000 settlement of a conditionally certified nationwide collective action for employees who alleged they were not paid for work performed during automatically deducted meal periods)
Baldwin v. Forever21, Inc., (American Arbitration Association 2015) ($496,500 settlement of a conditionally certified nationwide collective action for retail employees who alleged they were not paid for work performed during unpaid meal periods)
Roe v. Intellicorp Records, Inc., Case No. 1:12-cv-02288 (N.D. Ohio June 5, 2014) ($18,600,000 settlement under the Fair Credit Reporting Act vindicating the rights of consumers who were alleged to have been the victims of erroneous criminal background reports (one of the largest FCRA settlements in U.S. history))
Golden Goose Properties, LLC v. Leizman, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga, 2013-Ohio-5438 (overturned prejudgment distribution order on corporation’s garnished funds)
Franklin Management Industries, Inc. v. Far More Properties, Inc., 2011-Ohio-1693 (8th Dist. Cuyahoga) (utilized little-known trust fund doctrine to collect seven figure arbitration award against shareholders of dissolved corporations)
Fornshell v. FirstMerit Bank, Case No. 06-CV-592402 (Cuyahoga Cty. C. Pl. 2011) ($10,100,000 settlement of lawsuit brought by receiver on behalf of hundreds of investors against national bank over its complicity in a Ponzi scheme)
Jackson v. Maui Sands Resort, Case No. 1:08-CV-2972 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 10, 2010) (won $550,000 judgment against individual corporate officer and affiliated corporations under joint employer doctrine for class of hotel employees who alleged they were not paid wages for their last weeks of employment or for on-duty meal periods in violation of the FLSA)
Froom-Lipman Group, L.L.C. v. Forest City Enterprises, Inc., No. 1:06CV0185 (N.D. Ohio 2010) (won $700,000 judgment for disenfranchised business partnership)
Murphy v. 1-800-Flowers, Case No. 1:10-cv-2285 (N.D. Ohio) (Conditionally certified collective action for employees who alleged they were misclassified as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirement and denied overtime compensation)
Dillworth v. Case Farms Processing, Case No. 5:10-cv-1694 (N.D. Ohio) (Conditionally certified multi-state collective action for meat processing workers who alleged they were not paid for time spent donning and doffing uniforms and protective gear)
Warren v. Race, Case No. 1:09-CV-2670 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 3, 2010); Laskoski et al. v. Inkstop, Inc., Case No. 1:09-cv-2285 (N.D. Ohio) ($660,000 settlement of nationwide FLSA collective action against corporate officers and directors on behalf of employees who were unpaid when employer went out of business)
Jackson v. Papa John’s USA, Inc., 2009 WL 385580 (N.D. Ohio Feb. 13, 2009) (Conditionally certified nationwide FLSA collective action on behalf of store managers who alleged that they were misclassified as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirement)
Fincham v. Nestle Prepared Foods Company, No. 1:08cv0073 (N.D. Ohio) (Conditionally certified collective action for employees who alleged they were not paid for time spend changing into and out of uniforms and protective gear)
Berger v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Case No. 1:05-cv-1508 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 29, 2007) (Certified class and collective action for a class of Respiratory Therapists and Respiratory Technicians who alleged that they were not provided bona fide meal periods in violation of the FLSA and Ohio Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act)
Horne v. Colonial Life & Accident Ins. Co., No. 1:03CV2243 (N.D. Ohio 2006) (confidential 7-figure settlement of contract and good faith claims on behalf of insurance broker)
Ladanyi v. Merrill Lynch, 2001 NASD Arb. LEXIS 1680 (2001) (Award for defense in multi-million-dollar securities fraud arbitration case brought against securities broker)
Beder v. Cleveland Browns, 114 Ohio Misc. 2d 26 (2001) ($3,000,000 million settlement of class action brought on behalf of season ticket holders against NFL franchise upon relocation from Cleveland to Baltimore)
Cole v. Mileti, 133 F.3d 433 (6th Cir. 1998) (won judgment of more than $1,000,000 on breach of contract claim brought in dispute over financing for production of a movie)
Ross v. Cafaro Co., Trumbull Cty. C. Pl., ($11,000,000 settlement on behalf of minority partner in real estate partnership concerning development of shopping center)
