By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DOWNTOWN - To hear Cincinnati's lawyers tell it, there are at least 1,050 uninsured drivers on Cincinnati streets - and they're all on-duty Cincinnati police officers.

A state appeals court took the city's lawyers to task Friday for trying to get out of a lawsuit arising from an auto accident by arguing that the city is uninsured under Ohio's Financial Responsibility Act.

The case arose out of a 2001 accident between Jamie L. Corson of Loveland and Eugenia Blue, a Cincinnati police officer driving a cruiser.

The city admitted Blue was at fault, but argued that because it doesn't have insurance - the city is self-insured under Ohio law - Corson's insurance company should pay for the damage under her uninsured motorist coverage.

First District Court of Appeals Judge Mark P. Painter wrote that Cincinnati was trying to twist uninsured motorist law "into a pretzel."

"The city's argument - that it was 'uninsured' - might be clever; but how that fact released it from liability for damages escapes us," Painter wrote for the court.

City Solicitor J. Rita McNeil said the city is considering an appeal.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com