Ellis v. Ohio Turnpike Commission

122 N.E.2d 713, 100 Ohio App. 10, 59 Ohio Op. 447, 1954 Ohio App. LEXIS 567
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 24, 1954
Docket4757
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 122 N.E.2d 713 (Ellis v. Ohio Turnpike Commission) 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
Ellis v. Ohio Turnpike Commission, 122 N.E.2d 713, 100 Ohio App. 10, 59 Ohio Op. 447, 1954 Ohio App. LEXIS 567 (Ohio Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

Hurd, P. J.

This is an action in equity originating in the Court of Common Pleas of Lucas County, which is here appealed for the second time. The action was commenced by plaintiff-appellant, Cooley Ellis (hereafter referred to as Ellis), against defendant-appellee, Ohio Turnpike Commission (hereafter referred to as the commission), seeking injunctive relief to restrain the commission from proceeding with appropriation proceedings involving two fifty-acre tracts of land, property of Ellis, in Lucas County, one situated in the city of Maumee and the other in the cities of Toledo and Maumee.

In this appeal we have before us for consideration the following :

(1) A motion by the commission (appearing especially and for purposes of the motion only) to strike from the files of this cause a pleading designated “Amendment to Petition.” (2) “Demurrer to Remainder of Petition” by which the commission demurs to all of Ellis’ petition excepting paragraph 10 thereof as to which the Supreme Court of Ohio entered judgment on June 30, 1954, “for the reason that it appears on the face of the remainder of the petition that it does not state facts which show a cause of action.”

Before proceeding to a discussion of the issues presented by these pleadings, we think it helpful to relate briefly the history of this action to date.

This is the identical case decided by the Supreme Court of this state June 30, 1954, entitled Ellis v. Ohio Turnpike Commission, 162 Ohio St. 86, 120 N. E. (2d), 719. A demurrer to the original petition was sustained by the Common Pleas Court and the petition dismissed. An appeal on questions of law and fact was perfected to the Court of Appeals where the demurrer was again sustained and the petition was dismissed with prejudice, and judgment entered for the commission with costs. The cause then came before the Supreme Court of Ohio on appeal as of right and in pursuance of the allowance of a motion to *12 certify. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals and rendered final judgment for Ellis “to such an extent as will permit him to erect billboards, signs, etc., on his lands not taken for turnpike construction purposes.”

With this history as a background, we shall now proceed to consider the issues raised by the pleadings in the order above set forth.

The prayer of the pleading designated “Amendment to Petition” is as follows:

“Wherefore plaintiff appellant adopts the prayer set forth in his petition herein and further prays that defendant appellee be required to definitely state and limit the lands it seeks to appropriate and that defendant appellee be permanently enjoined from appropriating the so-called abutters’ rights referred to in its resolutions or asserting any rights in relation thereto or in the alternative, that such rights be defined and limited.”

It appears on the face of the record that this “Amendment to Petition” was filed in the Court of Appeals on August 25, 1954, without leave of court having been obtained then or thereafter. It also appears that this proposed amendment was filed nearly a year subsequent to the commencement of the action in the Common Pleas Court and subsequent to the entry of final judgment by the Supreme Court in Ellis v. Ohio Turnpike Commission, supra. Furthermore, it appears that it was filed after the trial of the appropriation proceedings involving the same lands where judgments were rendered in favor of Ellis on verdicts in the Common Pleas Court, which judgments are now before us on appeal on questions of law.

In case No. 4777, judgment in the total sum of $44,346.50 was entered on the verdict in favor of Ellis, December 1, 1953; and in case No. 4778, judgment in favor of Ellis was entered on the verdict in the total sum of $96,825, December 28, 1953.

It is fundamental that on appeal on questions of law and fact, unless amendments are permitted or ordered by the Court of Appeals, the action must proceed upon the issues entered in the trial court. See Section 2505.21, Revised Code; 3 Ohio Jurisprudence (2d), 662 et seq., Section 712, and numerous authorities therein cited.

*13 Furthermore, this court does not have original jurisdiction in injunction proceedings and the original petition did not contain any reference to “abutters’ rights” or request for more definite description of “property sought to be appropriated.” In view of the present status of the proceedings, we conclude that the “Amendment to Petition” not having been seasonably filed and having been filed in this court without leave first having been obtained, and further because additional causes of action which were not presented to the trial court are attempted now to be asserted, the motion to strike the petition from the files should be granted.

We now proceed to consider the issues raised by the demurrer to the remainder of the petition. It will be noted from what has heretofore been stated, that the demurrer to the remainder of the petition excepts therefrom paragraph 10 relating to the right to prohibit the erecting of billboards, signs, etc., which was the primary question passed upon by the Supreme Court in Ellis v. Ohio Turnpike Commission, supra. The record before us shows that this court announced August 6, 1954, the granting to the commission of leave to demur or answer on or before August 16, 1954. The demurrer to the remainder of the petition applies to all parts thereof excepting the paragraph dealing with the appropriation of billboard rights, it being contended by the commission that the remaining parts of the petition do not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

It is our opinion that the remaining parts of the petition having been previously considered by the trial court, this court, and finally the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court having entered final judgment, it necessarily follows that all issues which could or should have been determined have been determined by the rendition of final judgment by the Supreme Court in Ellis v. Ohio Turnpike Commission, supra.

Section 2505.21, Revised Code, requires that a reviewing court must pass upon all assignments of error; and, therefore, we think it must be presumed that the Supreme Court found no error as to any issue-except as stated in its final judgment. The cases of Kramer v. Toledo & Ohio Central Ry., 53 Ohio St., 436, 42 N. E., 252, and State, ex rel. Cleveland Concession Co., *14 v. City of Cleveland, 89 Ohio App., 408, 102 N. E. (2d), 731, support this proposition. We find none contra.

We are further constrained to this view by that part of the opinion in the Ellis case which reads as follows:

“The petition filed in the Ellis case raises other questions which should probably be noticed.

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Bluebook (online)
122 N.E.2d 713, 100 Ohio App. 10, 59 Ohio Op. 447, 1954 Ohio App. LEXIS 567, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ellis-v-ohio-turnpike-commission-ohioctapp-1954.