In Re Single County Ditch

361 N.E.2d 1353, 50 Ohio App. 2d 114, 4 Ohio Op. 3d 91, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5855
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 2, 1976
Docket1-76-41
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 361 N.E.2d 1353 (In Re Single County Ditch) 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
In Re Single County Ditch, 361 N.E.2d 1353, 50 Ohio App. 2d 114, 4 Ohio Op. 3d 91, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5855 (Ohio Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

The Board of County Commissioners of Allen County filed its petition with the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Allen County on March 8, 1974, seeking a drainage improvement more fully described therein and setting forth the names of some 98 property owners whose lands would be benefited by the improvement. As the proceedings progressed through that court and by reason of amendments it was determined that some 777 property owners would be benefited and after final hearing the court filed its entry on May 17,1976, in favor of the proposed improvement and approving the maps, profiles, plans, schedules and reports prepared by the County Engineer, approving and confirming the schedule of assessments (except as to property owners having filed formal written objections thereto), ordering the payment of the assessments in various semi-annual installments dependent upon amount, ordering the issuance of notes in anticipation of the assessments, and ordering the letting of contracts for the construction of the improvement.

It is from this order that Cecil McElroy, .an affected and allegedly benefited property owner, has filed her notice of appeal (in the form provided for appeals from civil cases) and she is the sole property owner who has appealed from that order. She has not filed a bond in connection with the appeal and it does not appear in the record before this court that the lower court has in any manner stayed *117 the execution of the order appealed. The Board of County Commissioners of Allen County constitutes the only other party to the trial court proceedings to appear in this appeal, appearing as appellee in support of their petition and of the order of the common pleas court.

Although the appellee has not filed a motion to dismiss this appeal, it has set forth in its brief assertions why the appeal should be dismissed. We shall initially consider these assertions to the extent that they might affect our jurisdiction to entertain the appeal and are not referable solely to the merits of the appellant’s appeal. In doing so we are mindful of the fact that drainage proceedings generally involve an exercise of both the police power of the state and the right of eminent domain, i. e., the appropriation of private lands to public use. 18A Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 191, Drainage, Section 8. “The general rule that statutes dealing with the delegation of powers in derogation of the rights of individuals are to be strictly construed applies to the construction of statutes providing for the establishment and construction of drainage improvements, as for example, provisions in such statutes relating to matters of jurisdiction.” 18A Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 196, Drainage, Section 14.

We find only one of these matters not referable to the merits of the appeal, specifically, the fact that appellant has not filed an appeal bond “as provided in R. C. 2505.09.”

In dealing with this appeal we are also dealing with a morass of legislation in that the legislature has failed to recognize true distinctions between a judicial proceeding in the common pleas court from which a judgment arises and a quasi-judicial proceeding before a board of county commissioners resulting in a decision or order. See 28 Corpus Juris Secundum 284, Drains, Section 17. Much of this morass further results from the fact that as formerly conceived the appeal from common pleas court in a drainage proceeding where the- county owned land to be benefited and petitioned the improyement in common pleas court was “to the superintendent, of public'works as the drainage commissioner,” 108 Ohio Laws 947 (G. C. 6474). *118 Subsequent provision was essentially as it is now that “[f]rom any final order or judgment of the court, an appeal may be taken as in civil cases.” R. C. 6131.62.

In the title pertaining to single county ditches the only provision for bond in connection with an appeal is that contained in R. C. 6131.26. This court formerly held in the case of In re Joint County Ditch (1952), 94 Ohio App. 169 (Motion to certify overruled, Nov. 19, 1952. Appeal dismissed, 158 Ohio St. 332), that the provisions of former G. C. 6468, now R. C. 6131.26, apply exclusively to appeals to the common pleas court from the final order entered upon the journal of the board of county commissioners, and do not apply to appeals to the courts of appeals taken from final orders made by the common pleas court upon appeal from final orders made by the board of county commissioners. This court did not specifically hold that G. C. 6468, now R. C. 6131.26, did not likewise apply to appeals to the courts of appeals taken from final orders made by the common pleas court in a ditch proceeding originally filed by a board of county commissioners in that court. It is clear that under former law, 108 Ohio Laws 947 (G. C, 6475), an appeal bond was required to perfect an appeal to the court of appeals from such a proceeding, but a complete reading of R. O. 6131.26, in the context of and in the organization of Chapter 6131 of the Revised Code, indicates that the legislature did not intend that the provisions of R. C. 6131.26 as to appeal bond should apply to appeals from original drainage proceedings in the courts of common pleas but instead expected such proceedings to be governed by the provisions of Chapter 2505.

R. C. 2505.06 requires the filing of an appeal bond to perfect an appeal on questions of law and fact but since appeals to the courts of appeals on questions of law and fact have been abolished (Appellate Rule 2) and since the appeal provided by R. C. 6131.62 “may be taken as in civil cases,” the filing of an appeal bond is not required to perfect an appeal from the court of common pleas in a ditch proceeding originating in that court on petition of a board of county commissioners. Of course, in order for the *119 appeal to operate as a stay of execution of the order of the common pleas court (but not to perfect the appeal) it still is necessary to file a supersedeas bond as prescribed by E. C. 2505.09, et seq.

In oral argument the appellee also has raised the issue of whether the order appealed from is a final order in that some assessments were reserved for further consideration. However, the proceedings in the trial court were for this purpose, special proceedings under E. C. 2505.02. A final order in a special proceeding need merely affect a substantial right and need not determine the action. The order here was appealable in this sense.

We must, therefore, reject the claim of the appellee that the appeal should fail because of the lack of a final order or the fact that the appellant has not filed an appeal bond. We then proceed to appellant’s assignments of error.

First Assignment of Error. “The Board of County Commissioners lacked authority to file its petition with the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Common Pleas lacked jurisdiction to hear and determine the matters alleged in the Board’s petition, because the record fails to show that, as required by Section 6131.62, E. C. the Board had rendered an opinion by resolution entered on its journal that any land owned by the County or any highway therein under the Board’s supervision was in need of drainage and that such drainage would also specifically benefit other land.”

This assignment of error is based on the. first sentence of E.

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Bluebook (online)
361 N.E.2d 1353, 50 Ohio App. 2d 114, 4 Ohio Op. 3d 91, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5855, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-single-county-ditch-ohioctapp-1976.