City of Akron v. Klein

171 Ohio St. (N.S.) 207
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 13, 1960
DocketNo. 36349
StatusPublished

This text of 171 Ohio St. (N.S.) 207 (City of Akron v. Klein) 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
City of Akron v. Klein, 171 Ohio St. (N.S.) 207 (Ohio 1960).

Opinion

Taft, J.

This case is a sequel to City of Akron v. Chapman, 160 Ohio St., 382, 116 N. E. (2d), 697, 42 A. L. R. (2d), 1140, in which, as the opinion there points out, there was “no claim of nuisance.” Although there is such a claim in the instant case, we are not confronted with and therefore express no opinion on the question whether a municipal ordinance can prohibit the operation of any junk yard in a residential neighborhood and thereby in effect make such operation in such a neighborhood a nuisance regardless of how well it is conducted.

[211]*211The Court of Appeals, in the journal entry setting forth its judgment, gave no reason for dismissing the petition. However, in its opinion it stated (see paragraph four of syllabus of Andrews v. Board of Liquor Control, 164 Ohio St., 275, 131 N. E. [2d], 390) that “the evidence * * # indicates that the maintenance and operation of the junk yard * * * by defendant is claimed to be distasteful, unsightly, and an annoyance, to the persons living close by said junk yard, but its effect, even as claimed by witnesses for plaintiff, does not attain the stature of a public nuisance.” (Emphasis added.)

The city relies upon Section 715.44, Revised Code, as conferring upon it the right to maintain this action. That statute reads in part :

“A municipal corporation may:
“(A) Abate any nuisance and prosecute in any court of competent jurisdiction, any person who creates, continues, contributes to, or suffers such nuisance to exist * * *.”

The Court of Appeals in its opinion stated that “the statute # * # must be interpreted as though” the word “public” appeared before the word “nuisance.” Although this court has never before had occasion to consider this problem, a similar interpretation was given to this statute many years ago in Whitcomb v. City of Springfield (1888), 3 C. C., 244, 2 C. D., 138. Not only because of the reasons there advanced for that interpretation but also because of the many years of legislative acquiescence therein, we are inclined to give this statute the same interpretation.

Since the Court of Appeals heard the cause as an appeal' on questions of law and fact, it had the power and right to substitute its judgment on the facts for that of the Common Pleas Court. The city did not request the Court of Appeals to make any finding of facts and neither the judgment nor the opinion of the Court of Appeals indicates what facts it found.

If the Court of Appeals was correct in its holding that ordinance 100-1956 cannot be enforced against defendant, then we cannot conclude that reasonable minds could not have found facts from the evidence in the record of this case that would support a valid legal conclusion that defendant’s operation of his junk-yard business does not constitute a public nuisance; and [212]*212therefore, since we do not weigh evidence, we could not reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals merely for failing to find that defendant’s operation of his junk yard represents in any respect a public nuisance.

However, it is either admitted by defendant or the evidence requires a finding as a matter of law (1) that defendant does not “maintain an open, unoccupied space 10 feet in width on each side of * * * ground” used for his junk yard or have a rear yard line at least 10 feet inside his rear property line, and does not have a solid board fence on each resulting setback side and rear yard line, (2) that especially during the summer defendant works in his junk yard after 6 p. m. but not after dark and (3) that defendant works in his junk yard on Sunday but that defendant conscientiously observes Saturday as the Sabbath and abstains thereon from doing on Saturday the things prohibited on Sunday by Section 3773.24, Revised Code.

On these facts, questions arise as to the validity of the provisions of ordinance 100-1956, requiring side and rear setback lines and fences thereon and prohibiting night and Sunday operations.

Even if we should assume that a municipality could by ordinance exclude an existing junk yard from a residential neighborhood as an offensive trade likely to create nuisances,1 it does not follow that any and every regulation of a junk yard by ordinance would be valid. For example, even if a legislative requirement of a solid fence around a junk yard in a residential neighborhood might represent a valid exercise of the police power,2 a legislative requirement that it be painted red would obviously not have any substantial relationship to the health, safety or morals of the public or even to the public welfare in its broadest scope and hence would not represent a valid exercise of the police power.

In, the instant case, defendant does have a fence around his [213]*213junk yard but, except perhaps in the front, it is not located on the setback lines specified in the ordinance. The effect of the ordinance is not merely to require a dismantling of the existing fence but also to prevent use by defendant of a substantial portion of the land used in defendant’s junk-yard business before enactment of the ordinance. The city did not determine by ordinance that the operation of a junk-yard business in a residential neighborhood is always a nuisance3 and the judgment of the Court of Appeals has determined that the operation of this particular yard was not a public nuisance. Cf. Village of Pine City v. Munch, 42 Minn., 342, 44 N. W., 197, 6 L. R. A., 763. Hence, our decision in City of Akron v. Chapman, supra (160 Ohio St., 382), required the determination made by the Court of Appeals that the “portion” of ordinance 100-1956 “pertaining to setback lines” was “unenforceable as applied to” defendant.

Since the portion of the ordinance with respect to fencing is obviously not separable from the portion relating to setback lines, the portion with respect to fencing cannot be enforced against defendant.4

In determining that the portion of ordinance 100-1956 requiring defendant to cease operations between 6 p. m. and 7 a. m. is unconstitutional, the Court of Appeals relied upon City of Cincinnati v. Correll, 141 Ohio St., 535, 49 N. E. (2d), 412. That case held that a municipal ordinance limiting the hours during which a barber shop might remain open for business did not represent a valid exercise of the police power because it bore no real and substantial relation to the health, safety, morals or general welfare of the public.

However, not only did that ordinance prevent operation of a barber shop anywhere within the city during certain hours (not merely as here in a residential neighborhood) but there are also very substantial differences between the operation of a barber shop and the operation of a junk yard.

[214]*214The latter operation, unlike the former, necessarily involves noise that will disturb those nearby. This court has recognized the desirability of “periods of rest from ordinary pursuits” as “requisite to the well-being, morally and physically, of a people” and as thus justifying legislative enactments providing therefor, such as the Sunday laws. State v. Powell, 58 Ohio St., 324, 340, 50 N. E., 900, 901, 41 L. R. A., 854, 856, State v. Kidd, 167 Ohio St., 521, 524, 150 N. E.

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Bluebook (online)
171 Ohio St. (N.S.) 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-akron-v-klein-ohio-1960.