Copley Township Board of Trustees v. W.J. Horvath Co.

951 N.E.2d 1054, 193 Ohio App. 3d 286
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 16, 2011
DocketNo. 25342
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 951 N.E.2d 1054 (Copley Township Board of Trustees v. W.J. Horvath Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Copley Township Board of Trustees v. W.J. Horvath Co., 951 N.E.2d 1054, 193 Ohio App. 3d 286 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

Dickinson, Presiding Judge.

INTRODUCTION

{¶ 1} William Horvath operated W.J. Horvath Company, a mulch business in Copley Township. After some of the mulch ignited in 2001, the township sued Horvath and his company, alleging that they were in violation of the township’s zoning resolution. It also sued his mother, Anna Horvath, because it alleged that she was an owner of the property where the mulch business was located. The action resulted in a permanent injunction against Mr. Horvath. Under the terms of the injunction, Mr. Horvath could continue operating his mulch business only if he fully complied with the township’s zoning resolution and followed specific requirements for storing, monitoring, and maintaining the mulch. In December 2007, the township moved for an order to show cause, requesting that the trial court find Mr. Horvath in contempt for failing to comply with the permanent injunction. In March 2010, the court found Mr. Horvath in contempt and ordered him to cease all of his business operations. It enjoined each of the defendants from conducting any type of business on the property where the mulch business was operating and ordered Mr. Horvath to remove all of his equipment within 30 days. The Horvaths have appealed, arguing that the trial court violated Mr. Horvath’s due process rights by not affording him a hearing before entering its ruling and that it exercised improper discretion when it punished them for the violations. We affirm in part because Mr. Horvath waived his right to additional hearings and the trial court exercised proper discretion when it imposed his punishment. We reverse in part because the trial court improperly punished Ms. Horvath.

DUE PROCESS

{¶ 2} The Horvaths’ first assignment of error is that the trial court incorrectly failed to afford Mr. Horvath a hearing. They argue that Mr. Horvath had a constitutional due process right to a hearing as well as a statutory right under R.C. 2705.05.

{¶ 3} “ ‘ “It has long been the established law of the United States * * * that constitutional procedural due process requires that one charged with contempt of court be advised of the charges against him, have a reasonable opportunity to meet them by way of defense or explanation, have the right to be represented by counsel, and have a chance to testify and call other witnesses in his behalf, either by way of defense or explanation.” ’ ” Taylor v. Hamlin-Scanlon, 9th Dist. No. 23873, 2008-Ohio-1912, 2008 WL 1808366, at ¶ 15, quoting Courtney v. Courtney (1984), 16 Ohio App.3d 329, 334, 16 OBR 377, 475 N.E.2d [290]*2901284. R.C. 2705.05(A) also provides, “In all contempt proceedings, the court shall conduct a hearing.”

{¶ 4} The township argues that Mr. Horvath received due process and waived any right that he might have had to additional hearings. It notes that on July 10, 2009, Mr. Horvath filed a “Motion for Order,” requesting “an Order consistent with the Proposed Orders” prepared by the parties’ lawyers. In that motion, Mr. Horvath acknowledged that the trial court “has inspected the property in the presence of all parties and has previously heard arguments from all parties.” The township also notes that the proposed order that Mr. Horvath asked the court to adopt would have “found [him] to be in contempt of the Court’s Permanent Injunction dated December 19, 2001.”

{¶ 5} The trial court held a hearing on the township’s motion for an order to show cause on September 30, 2008. According to the order setting that hearing, if the Horvaths “are not in compliance with this Court’s previously agreed order regarding the clean up of their property, the Court shall proceed with the hearing as to why they shall not be held in contempt of this Court’s prior order.” There is no journal entry continuing the hearing. The next item in the record is an order dated October 24, 2008, that schedules a telephone status conference for November 4, 2008. That order states, “Prior to the status conference, [the township’s] counsel shall draft and circulate * * * a proposed order of settlement in this case.” The fact that the court was aware in October that the parties were contemplating settlement of the case suggests that the September hearing occurred.

{¶ 6} It also appears from the record that the trial court, at the request of Mr. Horvath, visited the mulch business with the parties’ lawyers in attendance. The trial court therefore had the opportunity to view, firsthand, whether Mr. Horvath’s business was in compliance with the permanent injunction.

{¶ 7} We do not know what occurred at the September 30, 2008 hearing or what the trial judge saw during the site visit. It was, however, Mr. Horvath’s “duty to ensure that all parts of the record necessary for determination of the appeal [were] before this court and that the record [was] properly preserved for review.” State v. Evans (1994), 93 Ohio App.3d 121, 124, 637 N.E.2d 969. “When portions of the transcript necessary for resolution of assigned errors are omitted from the record, the reviewing court has nothing to pass upon and thus, as to those assigned errors, the court has no choice but to presume the validity of the lower court’s proceedings, and affirm.” Knapp v. Edwards Labs. (1980), 61 Ohio St.2d 197, 199, 15 O.O.3d 218, 400 N.E.2d 384. Accordingly, we will presume that, between the September 30, 2008, hearing and the site visit, Mr. Horvath had “a reasonable opportunity to meet [the allegations against him] by way of defense or explanation, [was] * * * represented by counsel, and ha[d] a chance to testify [291]*291and call other witnesses in his behalf, either by way of defense or explanation.” In re Oliver (1948), 333 U.S. 257, 275, 68 S.Ct. 499, 92 L.Ed. 682.

{¶ 8} Even if the trial court did not hold a full hearing on the contempt motion, we conclude that Mr. Horvath waived his right to additional hearings on the motion. “A party can be held to waive his fundamental constitutional rights only if [he] does so knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.” Pirtle v. Pirtle (July 20, 2001), 2d Dist. No. 18613, 2001 WL 815008 at *4. As the township notes, Mr. Horvath filed a motion asking the court to enter an order finding him in contempt based on its visit to his mulch business and the arguments it had already heard from the parties. Mr. Horvath specifically asked the court “to adopt [his] proposed Order or such other Order as the Court determines to be appropriate based on the proposed Orders attached.” Having asked the court to rule on the township’s motion without further evidence, Mr. Horvath waived his right to additional hearings on the matter. Mr. Horvath’s first assignment of error is overruled.

SEVERITY OF PUNISHMENT

{¶ 9} The Horvaths’ second assignment of error is that the trial court incorrectly imposed punishment that was not commensurate with the gravity of Mr. Horvath’s offense. According to them, the reason Mr. Horvath was accused of being in violation of the injunction was that “the condition[ ] [of] the Property [was] in disrepair and * * * numerous vehicles, trailers, scrap metal, junk, debris, and trash [were] stored on the property.” The trial court, however, permanently enjoined him from operating any type of business on the property. The Horvaths argue that life sentences should be reserved for only the most despicable crimes.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
951 N.E.2d 1054, 193 Ohio App. 3d 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/copley-township-board-of-trustees-v-wj-horvath-co-ohioctapp-2011.