While our jobs focus on education, sometimes people come to us for assistance with court cases. In some cases, we may be asked to provide expertise or give legal testimony in court. When this happens, do not answer questions! Immediately contact your Area Leader and Assistant Director – they will likely reach out to OSU’s Office of Legal Affairs for guidance and further communication with the inquiring party.
Remember – we are educators and not lawyers, and we are not allowed to give legal advice even though some of the topics we teach involve regulations. We can educate on regulations from a big picture perspective using materials provided from state specialists, but we can’t apply these subjects to specific situations. We can, however, give them resources to refer to – the Ag Law Library on the Farm Office website contains a lot of great fact sheets that can be handed out (available at https://farmoffice.osu.edu/law-library). The National Ag Law Center (https://nationalaglawcenter.org) is another great resource for Educators to use. If someone asks for a referral for an attorney, much as with any business, we can’t make specific recommendations. However, for topics that are ag-related, the Farm Office maintains a list of attorneys across Ohio that have attended ag law trainings and have experience in the field of agriculture – just send them an email to request an updated draft (hall.673@osu.edu or moore.301@osu.edu). If you receive requests for referrals to attorneys with experience in the energy industry (shale, solar, wind, etc.), Ohio Farm Bureau maintains a list that they will provide to members.
Below are a few scenarios that highlight what Educators sometimes encounter on the job that they should be careful in handling:
- An attorney for a company that makes and sells pesticides requests all documented correspondence with a local farmer.
- You receive a subpoena to appear in court as an expert witness in an herbicide lawsuit.
- An attorney calls you and asks for assistance with a pipeline case. They indicate they are looking for an expert witness who is knowledgeable on soil quality who can testify.
- A farmer contacts you and wants to know if they can pursue a case against a neighbor for dicamba damage in their soybean field. They would like you to come up with a letter stating that the neighbor is at fault for the damages.
- A landowner wants to know if they can sue a natural gas company for well water contamination they believe is caused by the fracking process.
- A landowner wants you to assist them in writing a lease agreement.
Modified February 18, 2025