City of Bedford Heights v. Tallarico

267 N.E.2d 802, 25 Ohio St. 2d 211, 54 Ohio Op. 2d 321, 1971 Ohio LEXIS 545
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 10, 1971
DocketNo. 70-7
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 267 N.E.2d 802 (City of Bedford Heights v. Tallarico) 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 Bedford Heights v. Tallarico, 267 N.E.2d 802, 25 Ohio St. 2d 211, 54 Ohio Op. 2d 321, 1971 Ohio LEXIS 545 (Ohio 1971).

Opinions

Herbert, J.

Appellant urges us to declare Bedford Heights Codified Ordinance 1701.01 unconstitutional and, also, to determine that she was convicted upon insufficient evidence.

It is well established that courts will refrain from declaring legislation unconstitutional unless the posture of a cause leaves no logical alternative thereto. Greenhills Home Owners Corp. v. Greenhills (1966), 5 Ohio St. 2d 207, 215 N. E. 2d 403; Rucker v. State (1928), 119 Ohio St. 189, 162 N. E. 802; Strongsville v. McPhee (1944), 142 Ohio St. 534, 53 N. E. 2d 522. See State, ex rel. Clarke, v. Cook (1921), 103 Ohio St. 465, 134 N. E. 655; State, ex rel. Herbert, v. Ferguson (1944), 142 Ohio St. 496, 52 N. E. 2d 980; Belden v. Union Central Life Ins. Co. (1944), 143 Ohio St. 329, 55 N. E. 2d 629; State, ex rel. Lieux, v. Westlake (1951), 154 Ohio St. 412, 96 N. E. 2d 414; State v. Western Union Telegraph Co. (1951), 154 Ohio St. 511, 97 N. E. 2d 2. Hence, we will first turn to appellant’s contention that her conviction “is not valid” because the evidence adduced at her trial “fails to show that this defendant beyond a reasonable doubt committed the crime she is charged with.” The record before us leaves no doubt that appellant’s complaint in this regard relates to the sufficiency, as opposed to weight, of the evidence.

[213]*213Bedford Heights Codified Ordinance 1701.01, including Sections 1.3 and 1.4, thereof provide:

“There is adopted by the municipality for the purpose of prescribing regulations governing conditions hazardous to life and property from fire or explosion that certain code known as the Fire Prevention Code recommended by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, being particularly the 1956 edition thereof and the whole thereof, save and except such portions of briefs as are hereafter deleted, modified, or amended by Chapter 1703, of which code one copy is filed in the office of the village clerk and the same is hereby adopted and incorporated as fully as is set out at length and from the date on which this action shall take effect the provisions thereof shall be controlling within the regulations of the municipality.”
“iTRE PREVENTION CODE
it* * *
“Section 1.3. Authority to Enter Premises.
“a. The Chief of the Fire Department, Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention or any inspector thereof may, at all reasonable hours, enter any building or premises for the purpose of making any inspection, or investigation which, under the provisions of this code, he or they may deem necessary to be made.
“b. The Chief of the Fire Department, Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention or any inspector thereof shall be permitted by the owner, lessee, manager, or operator of any building or premise to enter and inspect their building or premise at the time and for the purpose stated in this section.
“Section 1.4. Inspections of Buildings and Premises,
“a. It shall be the duty of the Chief of the Fire Department to inspect, or cause to be inspected by the Bureau of Fire Prevention, or by the Fire Department officers or members, all buildings and premises except the interiors of dwellings, as often as may be necessary for the purpose of ascertaining and causing to be corrected any conditions liable to cause fire, endanger life from fire, or any viola[214]*214tions of the provisions or intent of this code and of any other ordinance affecting the fire hazard.
“b. The Chief of the Fire Department, Chief of the Burean of Fire Prevention or an inspector upon the complaint of any person or whenever he or they shall deem it necessary, shall inspect any buildings and premises within their jurisdiction.”

The affidavit upon which appellant stood trial states in pertinent part:

“Ruth Tallarico, owner of premises known as 24844, 24846, 24848 and 24850 Aurora Road, Bedford Heights, Ohio, did refuse upon request to permit Bedford Heights Fire Chief Rogers to enter and inspect at a reasonable hour said premises for the purpose of ascertaining and causing to be corrected conditions liable to cause fire, endanger life from fire, and other violations of the Fire Code, to wit: to determine cause of fire occurring Oct. 23rd, 1967, in said premises, in violation of C. O. 1701.01, Section 1.-3 and 1.4 * *

Going straight to the evidentiary question, and laying aside the matter of how or whether appellant could violate Section 1.4, supra, it is clear that in order to sustain appellant’s conviction the record must present sufficient evidence that the Chief of the Bedford Heights Fire Department, or the Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention or an inspector thereof, made a request of appellant to inspect property within their jurisdiction which was either owned, leased, managed or operated by the appellant; that appellant knew the official identity of the person making the request; and that she refused to permit such inspection.

It is uncontroverted that the sole evidence in the record pertaining to appellant’s alleged violation of this ordinance is found in testimony of the Bedford Heights Fire Chief. He stated that by checking official plat records, he determined that a Mrs. Tallarico was the owner of the property in question. He testified further that, on information that the owner of the building in question, Mrs. Tal-[215]*215larico, lived on Columbus Road, he looked up “Mrs. Tal-larico V’ telephone number in the telephone directory and placed a call to the number therein listed for a Tallarico on Columbus Road. Over objection, the witness stated that a woman’s voice answered; that when asked if it was “Mrs. Tallarico” the voice answered “yes”; that he identified himself and asked to inspect “the apartment on Aurora Road”; and that the voice replied that he would need a search warrant to enter the building.

The record discloses further that the appellant’s name, Ruth Tallarico, was not listed in the telephone directory; that a telephone number for a Vito Tallarico was so listed; that the latter Tallarico owned the property next door to the property in question; that the witness had never spoken with appellant over the telephone prior to the date this call was made; that he did not know the appellant; that he did not and could not recognize her voice, either by telephone or in person; and that the witness could not identify the defendant in the courtroom as the person who had voiced the refusal over the telephone. Additionally, the witness acknowledged that the telephone number which he called was a personal residence as opposed to a business listing.

As can be seen from a search of legal texts, the question of the admissibility in civil cases of statements made to a witness over the telephone is one which has not engendered a uniform answer. See, e. g., 31A Corpus Juris Secundum 502, Section 188; McCormick, Evidence, 405, Section 193; VII Wigmore, Evidence, 616-624, Section 2155; annotations, 71 A. L. R. 5, and 105 A. L. R. 326.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
267 N.E.2d 802, 25 Ohio St. 2d 211, 54 Ohio Op. 2d 321, 1971 Ohio LEXIS 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-bedford-heights-v-tallarico-ohio-1971.