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Ohio courtrooms are heating up for all the wrong reasons. Last month, a federal magistrate judge sanctioned an Ohio lawyer who was caught vaping during a civil trial.

The case is Diana Cranfield v. Costco Wholesale Corp., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where an Ohio federal magistrate judge fined an attorney close to $1,900, with an additional order that he pay several hundred in attorney fees due to his vaping in court multiple times during a trial in November.

In his defense, the attorney said his actions were precipitated by the depths of his nicotine dependency.

However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Carmen E. Henderson wasn't as subtle in handing down the attorney's disposition after a 30-minute hearing in which she described how she and court security officers conducted an investigation and reviewed courthouse surveillance footage.

Judge Henderson told attorney David W. Neel that she felt that his use of his vape pen multiple times during the trial, was done in bad faith.

In her open rebuke, the judge said "When the court was reviewing the security footage inside the courtroom, … it showed Mr. Neel turning around and looking to [see] when court personnel had walked away from him on one occasion before he pulled the vaporizer out of his pocket…"And then it also showed Mr. Neel putting the vaporizer into his pocket as I was entering the courtroom."

The Judge made it clear that she felt Mr. Neel knew his conduct was wrong, but he chose to engage in it anyway."

Mr. Neel was fined $300 for each of the six days he vaped. The judge also ordered him to pay $250 for the half-hour spent hearing the vape issue which is to be paid to the opposing lawyers at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, plus another $93 for the three hours it took court security to investigate and review footage.

Mr. Neel was caught vaping during a trial that Judge Henderson presided over in Youngstown, next to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

Attorney Neel represents Diana Cranfield, who filed a lawsuit against her employer, Costco Wholesale Corp., in 2020, alleging disability discrimination, race discrimination, and retaliation claims.

After five days of testimony and arguments, a jury on Nov. 18 returned a verdict in favor of Costco, but less than a week later, Judge Henderson ordered Mr. Neel to appear before her on the allegation that he was vaping at trial.

Not only did Neel admit to vaping in court, but the surveillance footage also caught him in the act, and because of this Judge Henderson unleashed on Neel saying "Despite all traditional common sense that says that smoking in a courtroom is wholly prohibited and inappropriate, it has come to the court's attention by multiple sources, including court personnel, that attorney David Neel was observed on multiple occasions vaping in this courtroom."