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Employers are waiting on court for refunds Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s appeal of lawsuit causing more delays Below, clockwise, are shirts being sold by Fresh Brewed Tees, CLE Clothing Co. and GV Art and Design.
M
ike Kubinski remembers when he and business partner Jeff Rees attempted to get a small business loan prior to launching CLE Clothing Co. in 2008 — during a recession. “Basically, they just laughed at us said, ‘You can’t do that now,’ ” Kubinski said. “As our tagline says, we literally built this company one T-shirt at a time.” That is a common theme in Cleveland. A year after CLE Clothing’s debut, Tony Madalone — who, as a basketball player at Ashland University once launched a vintage T-shirt company from his dorm — and Fresh Brewed Tees made their first online splash. Also in 2009, GV Art and Design — two years after making national news with its “One Town, One Team, One Dream” campaign featuring a Cleveland Cavaliers T-shirt, rap song and a YouTube video that has generated almost 2.7 million views — joined the party.
See T-SHIRT Page 21
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FOTOLIA
By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
The appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation of a lawsuit filed by employers continues to put in limbo potential refunds to 270,000 businesses — some of more than $1 million and many into six figures. Those are estimates from PayUsBackOhioBWC, an organization and website created by the plaintiff companies in a lawsuit seeking refunds of overpayments to the BWC. In May, the Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed a 2013 decision by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard McMonagle that awarded the plaintiffs $859 million. However, the appeals court ordered the case back to McMonagle’s court for a recalculation of the refunds. The BWC on June 27 filed its intent to appeal. PayUsBackOhioBWC created the website to make employers aware of how much of a financial stake they have in the outcome of the case, San Allen Inc. v. Buehrer, and to generate support for a quick settlement of the case, a hope now dashed by BWC’s decision to appeal. (Stephen Buehrer is administrator of the BWC.) See REFUNDS Page 8
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INSURANCE
EMBRACING PETS Warrensville Heights company is growing rapidly by catering to a segment of the insurance industry that hasn’t reached the mainstream ■ Page 4
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