Kendig v. Commissioners of Greene County

82 Ohio St. (N.S.) 315
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 28, 1910
DocketNo. 11981
StatusPublished

This text of 82 Ohio St. (N.S.) 315 (Kendig v. Commissioners of Greene County) 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
Kendig v. Commissioners of Greene County, 82 Ohio St. (N.S.) 315 (Ohio 1910).

Opinion

Price, J.

The record shows, that during the summer and fall of the year 1908 and up to December 10th, one E. S. Keiter, as road superintendent of district No. 1 of Xenia township, Greene county, appropriated for road purposes, three hundred and- forty-eight cubic yards of gravel, the property of the plaintiff in error, which said superintendent used for repairing the roads within said district. The value of the gravel was placed at eight cents per cubic yard for which the superintendent gave the owner a certificate to the township trustees showing the appropriation at said rate amounted to $27.84.

On the 28th day of December, 1908, the township trustees examined and allowed the bill in said amount, and certified the same to the commissioners of the county, under a provision of the statute for that purpose, on the ground that said trustees had within the past year paid out for such material for road purposes the sum they are authorized by law to pay, to-wit, $25.00. The plaintiff in error appeared before the county commissioners with his said certificate and asked for its payment, who after consideration, on the 30th day of January, 1909, refused to allow or pay the same, assigning as reason, that the claim is not just or equitable.

Thereupon, plaintiff in error gave notice to the commissioners of his intention to appeal from- the decision of the commissioners to the court of common pleas of Greene county, and -the commis[317]*317sioners fixed the bond for appeal at $110 which bond was given -and duly approved. A transcript of the proceedings had before the trustees and commissioners was filed in the court of common pleas, and also a petition setting out said claim, its allowance by the trustees and its disallowance by the county commissioners. The prayer of the petition “asks the court to hear and determine whether the claim of plaintiff is or is not just and equitable, and if the same be found just and equitable, that plaintiff’s claim be allowed with interest.”

The county commissioners were made defendants to the petition, and in due time filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for the following reasons:

“1st. There is no provision of law which warrants or provides for such appeal. .
“2d. The appeal is not one provided in Sections 4715 and 4688, Revised Statutes of Ohio.”

The court of common pleas sustained the motion and dismissed the appeal, and its judgment was affirmed by the circuit court. These judgments ■are for review here upon a petition in error for that purpose.

It is quite clear that the appeal attempted to be taken in this case is not authorized by Section 4715, Revised Statutes, referred to in the motion. It is in the first provision of chapter 5, title VII, entitled: .“Road Superintendents and Road Work.” The first clause prescribes the duties of such superintendents, and then provides tha-t they “may enter upon any uncultivated or improved lands, unencumbered by crops, near to or adjoining such roads, cut or carry away timber, except trees or [318]*318groves, or improved lands planted or left for ornament or shade, and may dig or cause to be dug and carried away, any gravel, sand or stone which may be necessary to make, improve or repair any such road, and that the owner of such property so taken by the road superintendent be paid a reasonable compensation therefor to be assessed by the trustees, and said claimant, for his damages, may have an appeal as hereinbefore provided for in section forty-six hundred and ninety-nine (4699) and the amount found due shall be paid as provided in section four thousand seven hundred and forty-five (4745).”

When we turn to Section 4699, above referred to, for right of appeal, we find the following provision: “Every claimant.of compensation and damages on account of the establishment or alteration of a county or township road, or alteration of a state road, or change in width of a county road, may appeal to the probate court from the final decision of the county commissioners or township trustees, confirming the assessment of compensation and damages made by the viewers in his behalf, or the refusal of the viewers to award damages to him, which appeal shall be perfected and docketed in the mode hereinbefore prescribed in section forty-six hundred ninety (4690),” etc.

The latter section prescribes what transcript and papers, etc., shall be transmitted to the probate court and how the case shall be docketed. It is apparent that Section 4715 construed with Section 4699, authorizes an appeal in certain cases named to the probate court, but not to the court of common pleas. Nor do the sections cover a claim [319]*319like the one here involved. Therefore, the appeal in this case cannot be sustained by those sections.

Neither can it be sustained by Section 4688, referred to in the motion, which reads: “An appeal from the final order of the county commissioners establishing a county road, or altering", or vacating, in whole or in part, a state or county road, or changing the width of a county road, may be taken to the probate court of the same county by any person having an estate in fee, for life, or years, in any lands or tenements, situate in any township in the county, in or through which township such new, altered, changed, or vacated road passes, or by the husband of any married woman, or guardian of any ward having such an estate.”

The title of the chapter of which this section forms a part is: “Appeals in Road Cases.” Clearly it does not cover or embrace the right to appeal in the present case. If it could be so construed, the appeal must go to the probate court and not to the court of common pleas.

However, the plaintiff in error has confidently selected Section 896, Revised Statutes, in support of his appeal. It reads: “If a person is aggrieved by the decision of the county commissioners in any case, such person may, within fifteen days thereafter, appeal to the next court of common pleas, notifying the commissioners of such appeal at least ten days before the time of trial, which notice shall be in writing and delivered personally to the commissioners, or left with the auditor of the county, and the court shall, at their next session hear and determine the same, winch decision shall be final.”

[320]*320This section with a slight change of a few words not affecting its meaning, has been in our statutes before and since the year 1853 (S. & C., 247), and is a part of chapter 1, title VIII, which prescribes the powers and duties of county commissioners. Among the powers conferred and duties devolved are the making and enforcing various contracts with relation to county affairs, allowance of claims against the county, etc.

A claim of this character was involved in Shepard v. The Commissioners of Darke County, 8 Ohio St., 354 — a claim made by the county recorder for indexing records under a contract. Dispute over the amount charged for the work arose. The commissioners allowed part of the bill and refused the remainder. It was held that a right of -appeal to court of common pleas existed.

The section was under consideration again in Bowersox et al. v. Watson et al., 20 Ohio St., 496, and the principle there held is, that under its provisions, “appeals are allowed from the decisions of boards of county commissioners made only in cases founded upon claims and demands against the county in its quasi corporate capacity.”

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Bluebook (online)
82 Ohio St. (N.S.) 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kendig-v-commissioners-of-greene-county-ohio-1910.