Callahan v. Wasmire

39 Ohio Law. Abs. 595
CourtStark County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedMarch 15, 1943
DocketNo. 83819
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 39 Ohio Law. Abs. 595 (Callahan v. Wasmire) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Stark County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Callahan v. Wasmire, 39 Ohio Law. Abs. 595 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1943).

Opinion

OPINION

By BARTHELMEH, J.

This is an appeal from the Municipal Court of the city of Alliance on questions of law. The action originally instituted in that court was one of forcible detention.

The jurisdiction of that court in cases of this nature is provided for in §1579-197 GC, which, in part, provides as follows:

“Jurisdiction in Civil Proceedings. Said Municipal Court' herein established * * * shall have ordinary civil jurisdiction * * * in the following cases:
In all actions and proceedings of which Justices of the Peace or such Courts as may succeed Justice of the Peace Courts have or may be given jurisdiction.”

[597]*597By reason of the provisions of Chapter 13 GC, and particularly §10447, such jurisdiction was given to “any Justice within his proper county.”

It is therefore obvious at the outset that the Honorable Harry W. Moreland, as judge of the Municipal Court of the city of Alliance, had full and complete jurisdiction to hear this cause.

While the appellant, who was the plaintiff below, files no assignments of error, this court will look to the whole proceeding and search the record to see if substantial justice has been done.

With this in mind, the questions to be decided are:

(1) Was the court correct in its sustaining the motion of the defendant at the end of plaintiff’s case upon the premise that the court was “only determining the question of nuisance on the ground of immoral conduct” and limiting the proof to this single issue, and was this the limitation placed upon the court by the Canton Area Rent Office of the Office of Price Administration?

(2) Did the Canton Area Rent Office of the Office of Price Administration have legal authority to limit the powers and jurisdiction of the trial court, thereby depriving the plaintiff of any other cause of action she may have had, and stating the degree of proof necessary to sustain her cause of action, to which she was so limited by the Area Rent Office?

“Substantial justice cannot be done by a judgment which denies a party legal and constitutional rights.” Taylor v. Schlichter, 118 Oh St 131; 160 N. E. 610.

There is ample authority in Ohio for a landlord to terminate a month to month tenancy at the end of any installment payment period or the end of the' established month by the giving of proper notice. While this issue is not directly before this court, the record (letter of October 31, 1942, of Chief Rent Attorney) discloses that some such attempt was made by the owner of the premises by her refusal to accept a tender of rent. Whether or not the proper notice was given to the tenant is not revealed. However, without judicial authority, this plaintiff was denied the righjfc to seek an adjudication of her rights in accordance with the laws of the State. To this rule of the rent attorney she adhered and proceeded no further.

Two subsequent petitions were filed with the rent office, seeking consent to commence an action in forcible detention.

In these this appellant charged:

(1) That the tenant is committing or permitting a nuisance.

(2) Is using or permitting a use of the housing accommodations for an immoral or illegal purpose.

(3) That the tenant has unreasonably refused access to the premises for legitimate inspection.

[598]*598The Area Rent Office by some method not revealed by the letter of October 31, made a determination of these allegations. Was there a hearing? Did witnesses testify? Was there any consideration given to the quantum or quality of proof? These questions can, from the record before the court, be safely answered in the negative, since it is revealed that the chief rent attorney of the area dismissed the complaint in the following manner:

“In view of the period of occupancy involved in this matter and upon examination of the facts alleged by you, it does not appear to us that you have established a proper basis for eviction within the terms of the maximum rent regulations.”

It is apparent to- this court from this statement that the rights of the landlord as against the tenant was not considered in light vOf the laws of Ohio.

The rent attorney then finds that:

“There may well be a disputed issue of fact upon whether or not a legal nuisance exists or whether or not your tenant has made an illegal or immoral use of the premises.
We find no evidence of the tenant unreasonably refusing * * * access to the premises for inspection.”

Thereafter follows the consent to have the rights of the owner of the premises “submitted for judicial determination” and that the Area Rent Office is “willing to abide by the court’s determination thereof.”

What has been consented to? What are the issues to which the trial court was limited by this consent? The answer to these two questions seems plain to the court. They are:

(1) Nuisance and of

(2) Illegal or immoral use of the premises.

The answer to the first proposition confronting this court is now apparent. The Area Rent Office did not limit the issues to “the question of nuisance on the ground of immoral conduct” as the court expressed itself immediately before sustaining the motion. The issues that the rent office consented to be “submitted for judicial determination were:

(2) Illegal or immoral use of the premises.”

True, there is no evidence in the record of “nuisance on the ground of immoral conduct.” It might be here added that there was no evidence of immoral use of the premises. Further, it is here assumed that the term “illegal” here used referred to acts specifi[599]*599cally prohibited by statutory law and applying this standard this court is bound to find that there was no evidence to support this charge, with the possible exception of §12646 GC. This section of the Code provides:

“Whoever * * * uses or maintains a building, structure or place for the exercise of a trade, employment or business, or for the keeping or feeding of an animal which by occasioning noxious exhalations or noisome or offensive smells, becomes injurious to the health, comfort or property of individuals or of the public, or causes or suffers offal, filth or noisome substance to be -collected or remain in a place to the damage or preudice or (of) others, or of the public.”

What is a nuisance in the law of torts?

“The term is derived from the French word “nuire” meaning to do hurt or to annoy, but it is applied.in the English law-indiscriminately to infringements upon the. enjoyment of proprietary and personal rights.
It has been said that a nuisance is something obnoxious or offensive; that is, it is anything which unlawfully and tortiously does hurt, or causes inconvenience, discomfort or damage to another, and it consists in unlawfully doing an act or omitting to perform a duty, which act or omission damages, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others, offends decency or in any way renders other persons insecure in life or the use of property.
An actionable nuisance is defined by Mr.

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79 N.E.2d 672 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1947)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 Ohio Law. Abs. 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/callahan-v-wasmire-ohctcomplstark-1943.