Fraternal Order of Police, Capitol City Lodge No. 9 v. City of Columbus

493 N.E.2d 983, 24 Ohio App. 3d 157, 24 Ohio B. 246, 1985 Ohio App. LEXIS 10164
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 23, 1985
Docket84AP-50
StatusPublished

This text of 493 N.E.2d 983 (Fraternal Order of Police, Capitol City Lodge No. 9 v. City of Columbus) 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
Fraternal Order of Police, Capitol City Lodge No. 9 v. City of Columbus, 493 N.E.2d 983, 24 Ohio App. 3d 157, 24 Ohio B. 246, 1985 Ohio App. LEXIS 10164 (Ohio Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

Strausbaugh, J.

Defendant, city of Columbus, appeals from the judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and ordering it to pay premiums and provide certificates of insurance for each of the named plaintiffs under the group contract for health insurance with Blue Cross of Central Ohio and Ohio Medical Indemnity Mutual Corporation, in addition to paying money damages in the amount equal to the monetary losses incurred by plaintiffs as a result of defendant’s failure to provide them with a separate certificate of insurance.

The record reveals that on November 30, 1982, plaintiffs, the Fraternal Order of Police, Capitol City Lodge No. 9 (“FOP”) and nineteen female members of the Columbus police force, filed a complaint against defendant, charging that the city of Columbus had wrongfully refused to provide separate and current family health insurance coverage for married female officers, except for Cheryl Moyer, while providing the same to their husbands. Plaintiffs noted that a denial of separate insurance policies for each spouse of a two-officer family resulted in a significant loss to the plaintiffs because they were prohibited from coordinating the benefits of both policies to achieve one hundred percent coverage. Cheryl Moyer did not receive a separate certificate of insurance, but it was alleged that defendant had threatened to discontinue the payment of premiums for her coverage. Plaintiffs claimed that defendant’s actions were in violation of an agreement entered into between defendant and the FOP, containing the agreed terms and conditions of the employment of police officers including their salary and benefits, and Columbus Ordinance No. 2154-81, “the police salary ordinance,” in which the FOP agreement was incorporated. Plaintiffs requested that a declaratory judgment be issued, establishing their rights with respect to individual health insurance coverage, an injunction or other order requiring defendant to pay premiums and provide insurance coverage to the married female officers, an injunction restraining defendant from discontinuing insurance coverage for Cheryl Moyer, and damages resulting from *158 defendant’s violation of the agreement and ordinance.

On December 30, 1982, defendant filed a motion to dismiss those counts in plaintiffs’ complaint which alleged a breach of the FOP agreement. The motion, however, was overruled by the trial court on February 16, 1983. Plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint, adding as a basis for their suit defendant’s breach of the group health insurance contract entered into with Blue Cross of Central Ohio (“Blue Cross”) and Ohio Medical Indemnity Mutual Corporation (“Blue Shield”). Plaintiffs claimed, as third-party beneficiaries of the agreement, that defendant failed to abide by the terms of its group contract by refusing to submit applications from married female officers who asked to be individually enrolled in the group coverage to Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

In response to plaintiffs’ complaint, defendant admitted that an agreement had been entered into between the FOP and members of the city of Columbus executive administration, but that insurance coverage mandated by city ordinance was being maintained. Defendant also claimed that it was not bound by the FOP agreement and, in the alternative, contended that the insurance coverage required under the agreement was being provided.

Plaintiffs subsequently amended their complaint a second time to include the names of six more female officers. On September 9, 1983, plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment on count six of their second amended complaint based upon the group contract entered into by defendant with Blue Cross and Blue Shield. It was plaintiffs’ contention that, because they were married to police officers, defendant had unilaterally decided that only one of the parties was entitled to enroll under the insurance policy. The other police officer was relegated to the position of “spouse” of the eligible employee and was entitled to insurance coverage only as such. Plaintiffs argued that, under the terms of the insurance agreement, defendant promised to notify each employee who was eligible for enrollment and to obtain and submit an application for each employee who wanted to enroll in the coverage. All sworn uniformed police officers were alleged to be eligible under the policy and, therefore, if requested, each eligible employee, regardless of the fact that he or she was married to another police officer, was entitled to individually enroll for family coverage under the group contract. In support of their motion, plaintiffs attached copies of the application for group contract, the group contract issued on February 6,1979, subsequent extensions of the contract, a letter from Assistant City Attorney Donald Keller to Nicholas J. Rodono, of the Department of Finance, city of Columbus, concerning limitations of health coverage to one plan per family, and affidavits of all the plaintiffs, except Cheryl Moyer, stating that since the date of their marriages no representatives or officers of the city had notified them of their eligibility for enrollment in the group contract for insurance or submitted an application on their behalf. They also indicated that, when they notified the city of their desires to enroll for family coverage, they were told that under the city’s policy they were not eligible because their husbands had already enrolled. Also included was defendant’s answers to plaintiffs’ interrogatories of November 30, 1982.

In response to plaintiffs’ motion, defendant alleged that the group contract provided coverage per family not for each individual member of the family who was a sworn uniformed police officer, and that the coverage provided in the contract and as authorized under the Columbus salary ordinance was being provided to every police officer. In support of its memorandum contra, defen *159 dant attached copies of the health care benefit program booklet and the affidavits of several employees involved in administering the insurance policy.

On November 22, 1983, the trial court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, holding that each sworn police officer was eligible for enrollment under the Blue Cross contract and, on December 15, 1983, the trial court’s decision and order was journalized by entry with Civ. R. 54(B) language, there being no just reason for delay. From this order defendant now appeals, raising the following three assignments of error:

"1. The trial court erred in overruling defendant’s motion to dismiss all allegations contained in plaintiffs’ complaint based upon the ‘agreement’ between the Fraternal Order of Police Capital [sic] Lodge #9 and the city of Columbus.
“2. The trial court erred in ruling that each spouse of a married police officer couple of the city of Columbus is entitled to his or her own certificate of insurance.
“3. The trial court erred in ordering that both police officers in a police officer couple is [sic] entitled to maintain their own separate family coverage.”

In its first assignment of error, defendant seeks a reversal of the trial court’s order overruling its motion to dismiss all of the allegations in plaintiffs’ complaint arising out of the agreement between the FOP and the city of Columbus.

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Bluebook (online)
493 N.E.2d 983, 24 Ohio App. 3d 157, 24 Ohio B. 246, 1985 Ohio App. LEXIS 10164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fraternal-order-of-police-capitol-city-lodge-no-9-v-city-of-columbus-ohioctapp-1985.