Founded by Barbara Rogers and Nick Marrone, Spectrum Reporting opened its doors on August 1, 1988.  Simple math would suggest that Spectrum is 31 years old, right?  Maybe. 

Before the creation of Spectrum Reporting, Barb and Nick worked at Runfola & Associates, a court reporting firm owned by Tom Runfola.  Before leaving Runfola & Associates, Barb and Nick informed Runfola that they planned on starting their own company.  Runfola notified Barb and Nick that they would be in violation of their non-compete agreements.  Preemptively, Barb and Nick filed a declaratory judgment action in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in May of 1988 to determine the validity of their contracts, the non-compete clause and their rights.  (Case No. 88-CV-003521)  The Court found in favor of them in July 1988.  Runfola appealed the decision.

With the favorable trial court decision in hand, Barb and Nick began business as Spectrum Reporting.  Barb and Nick worked tirelessly to impress their clients.  Spectrum was growing and began hiring additional court reporters and office staff.

In June 1989, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court decision. Runfola appealed the case for a second time, and the case was accepted by the Ohio Supreme Court. 

In March 1990, Spectrum bought its first office space at the Waterford Tower to accommodate its growing business.  Spectrum continued to expand by hiring more employees, purchasing the latest equipment, and being one of the first to introduce realtime reporting to the Columbus market. 

On January 9, 1991, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision in the Rogers v Runfola matter.  In summary, the Court reversed the prior court’s decision, modified the employment contracts from a two-year restriction to a one-year restriction, reduced the geographic area of restriction, and enjoined Barb and Nick from competing for a year.  https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914bfe2add7b049347b0797 

Barb and Nick had 60 days to close Spectrum’s doors and figure out what to do.  Being recently divorced, Barb was the sole support for her two young children that were just starting school, and she didn’t want to move her family.  She decided to sit out for a year and stay home with her two children.  Nick was single, making his decision to relocate easier.  He moved to Florida to work for that year.  The rest of Spectrum’s staff found employment elsewhere. 

Upon receipt of a court decision that they had to close for a year, many people would have decided that owning a business wasn’t for them, but Barb and Nick were resilient and ready to get back to work after that year.  On April 1, 1992, Spectrum Reporting re-opened its doors.

Spectrum began the process of rebuilding the business.  In 1994, Barb purchased Nick’s share of the business and Nick moved back to Florida.  Since its re-opening, Spectrum has added additional services, including video and trial presentation services, audio transcription, and videoconferencing.  Spectrum recently moved into larger space at 400 South Fifth Street so that it could offer its clients four large conference rooms, each outfitted with videoconferencing.  And today Spectrum celebrates another birthday, even if we’re not quite sure how old we are. 

So, what do you think?  Is Spectrum 30 or 31 years old today?