Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. v. Pope

374 N.E.2d 406, 54 Ohio St. 2d 12, 8 Ohio Op. 3d 7, 1978 Ohio LEXIS 526
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedApril 5, 1978
DocketNo. 77-695
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 374 N.E.2d 406 (Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. v. Pope) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. v. Pope, 374 N.E.2d 406, 54 Ohio St. 2d 12, 8 Ohio Op. 3d 7, 1978 Ohio LEXIS 526 (Ohio 1978).

Opinion

Celebrezze, J.

The sole question presented for our determination is whether a Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to review a lower court’s order, entered pursuant to R. C. 163.09(B), in favor of an appropriating agency on one or more of the preliminary issues relative to appropriation, i. e., the condemnor’s right to make an appropriation, the inability of the owners and the condemnor to agree upon monetary compensation, and the necessity for a particular appropriation.

R. C. 163.09(B) provides as follows:

“When an answer is filed pursuant to section 3.63.08 of the Eevised Code, and any of the matters relating to the right to make the appropriation, the inability of the parties [14]*14to agree, or the necessity for the appropriation are specifically denied in the manner provided in snch section, the court shall set a day, not less than five nor more than fifteen days from the date the answer was filed to hear such questions. Upon such questions, the burden of proof is upon the owner. A resolution or ordinance of the governing or controlling body, council, or board of the agency declaring the necessity for the appropriation shall be prima-facie evidence of such necessity in the absence of proof showing an abuse of discretion by the agency in determining such necessity. If as to any or all the property or other interests sought to be appropriated, the court determines the questions in favor of the agency, the court shall set a time for the assessment of compensation by the jury within twenty days from the date of the journalization of such determination. An order of the court in favor of the agency on any of such questions or on qualification under section 163.06 of the Revised Code, shall not be a final order for purposes of appeal. An order of the court against the agency on any of such questions, or on the question of qualification under section 163.06 of the Revised Code, shall be a final order for purposes of appeal. If a public agency has taken possession prior to such order and such order, after any appeal, is against the agency on any of such questions, the agency shall restore the property to the owner in its original condition or respond in damages, which may include the items set forth in division (B) of section 163.21 of the Revised Code, recoverable by civil action, to which the state consents.” (Emphasis added.)

The foregoing statute expresses a legislative resolution that the trial court’s order in favor of the appropriating agency is not immediately appealable by the property owner, whereas the trial court’s order against the agency is a final order which the agency may appeal.

Appellants contend that the General Assembly may not limit or abridge the power or the right of appellate courts to review judgments of the Courts of Common Pleas, and that any such legislative attempt is unconstitutional and [15]*15void. We disagree. The appellate jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals is set forth in Section 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution, as follows:

“Courts of appeals shall have such jurisdiction as may be provided by law to review and affirm, modify, or reverse judgments or final orders of the courts of record inferior to the court of appeals within the district and shall have such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law to review and affirm, modify, or reverse final orders or actions of administrative officers or agencies.” (Emphasis added.)

The above section of the Constitution was adopted on May 7, 1968, and its provisions are closely analogous to the amended version of former Section 6, Article IV of the Ohio Constitution. However, when originally enacted, Section 6 of Article IV read as follows:

“The courts of appeals shall have original jurisdiction in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, prohibition and procedendo, and appellate jurisdiction in the trial of chancery cases, and, to review, affirm, modify, or reverse the judgments of the courts of common pleas, superior courts and other courts of record within the district as may be provided by law. * * *”

On January 1, 1945, the following amendment became effective:

“The courts of appeals shall have original jurisdiction in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, prohibition and procedendo, and such jurisdiction as may be provided by law to review, affirm, modify, set aside, or reverse judgments or final orders of boards, commissions, officers, or tribunals, and of courts of record inferior to the court of appeals within the district, * * (Emphasis supplied to indicate new language.)

In Youngstown Municipal Ry. Co. v. Youngstown (1946), 147 Ohio St. 221, this court construed the then recent amendment, at page 223, as follows:

“* * * The expressed intention is to accomplish the simple result of empowering the General Assembly to change the appellate jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals [16]*16if it should desire so to do; and unless and until there is such legislative action, the appellate jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals remains as it was at the time the amendment was adopted.”

In Klein v. Bendix-Westinghouse Co. (1968), 13 Ohio St. 2d 85, decided approximately two months before Section 6, Article IV was repealed and reenacted as Section 3, Article IV, this court was presented with the question of whether a discovery order of a trial court was subject to immediate appellate review. In the course of deciding that it was not, the court, per Paul W. Brown, J., stated the following :

“The attitude of this court has long been that the definition of final orders is within the judicial province. Hoffman v. Knollman, 135 Ohio St. 170; Price v. McCoy Sales & Service, Inc., 2 Ohio St. 2d 131. By constitutional declaration, it is within the legislative province to specify which final orders are appealable. Section 6, Article IV, Ohio Constitution. The case of Youngstown Municipal Ry. Co. v. Youngstown, 147 Ohio St. 221, holds that all orders falling within this court’s definition of final orders are appealable until the General Assembly acts to modify the jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals.”

The Klein court also stated that R. C. 2505.02 constituted a legislative restatement of this court’s definition of a final order.

We note that R. C. 2505.02 declares that “* * * an order affecting a substantial right made in a special proceeding * * * is a final order which may be reviewed, affirmed, modified, or reversed, with or without retrial.” Under the above definition a trial court’s order determining the preliminary issues in favor of the appropriating agency would appear to be a final order, since the order is made in a special proceeding and it will certainly affect the owner’s property rights. Nevertheless, all final orders are not ipso facto appealable orders, and the distinction made in Klein is supported by the following language in R. C. 2505.03: “Every final order, judgment or decree of a court * * * may be re[17]*17viewed * * * -unless otherwise provided by law * * *.”

Clearly, in enacting R. C. 163.09, the General Assembly has “otherwise provided by law” that a trial court’s order in favor of the appropriating agency on the preliminary questions is not immediately appealable.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
374 N.E.2d 406, 54 Ohio St. 2d 12, 8 Ohio Op. 3d 7, 1978 Ohio LEXIS 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cincinnati-gas-electric-co-v-pope-ohio-1978.