Lawrence Township Board of Trustees v. City of Canal Fulton

923 N.E.2d 1180, 185 Ohio App. 3d 267
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 22, 2009
DocketNo. 2009 CA 00017
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 923 N.E.2d 1180 (Lawrence Township Board of Trustees v. City of Canal Fulton) 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
Lawrence Township Board of Trustees v. City of Canal Fulton, 923 N.E.2d 1180, 185 Ohio App. 3d 267 (Ohio Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

Edwards, Judge.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, the Lawrence Township, Stark County, Ohio, Board of Township Trustees, appeals from the December 31, 2008 judgment entry of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas granting the motion for summary judgment filed by defendants-appellees the city of Canal Fulton, Ohio, and the clerk of the city of Canal Fulton, Ohio, while denying that filed by plaintiff-appellant.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE

2} On February 5, 2008, a petition for the annexation of 142.848 acres located in Lawrence Township to the city of Canal Fulton was filed with the Stark County Board of Commissioners by William J. Johnson, Heather A. Johnson, and the Northwest Local Board of Education. The annexation petition was filed pursuant to R.C. 709.023 as an expedited Type 2 annexation. On February 26, 2008, appellant, the Lawrence Township, Stark County, Ohio, Board of Township Trustees, filed a resolution objecting to the annexation petition with the commissioners, asserting that the petition failed to meet the requirements of R.C. 709.021.

[270]*270{¶ 3} Pursuant to a resolution adopted on March 4, 2008, the commissioners granted the annexation petition, finding that “all the conditions as stated in ORC 709.023(E)(l-7) had been met.”

{¶ 4} On May 9, 2008, appellant filed a complaint for declaratory judgment, mandamus, and injunctive relief against appellee the city of Canal Fulton, appellee Tammy Marthey, the clerk of council for the city of Canal Fulton, and against William J. Johnson, Heather A. Johnson, the Northwest Local Board of Education, and the Stark County Board of Commissioners. All of the parties filed motions for summary judgment.

{¶ 5} Pursuant to a judgment entry filed on December 31, 2008, the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment filed by appellees while denying that filed by appellant. The trial court, in its judgment entry, denied appellant’s motion for preliminary and/or permanent injunction. The trial court also determined that the annexation petition complied with R.C. 709.023(E) and that, therefore, appellant was not entitled to mandamus relief.

{¶ 6} Appellant now raises the following assignments of error on appeal:

{¶ 7} “I. The trial court erred in granting the appellees’ cross-motions for summary judgment and in denying the appellant’s motion for summary judgment, as a matter of law, to appellant’s prejudice.
{¶ 8} “II. The trial court erred in its construction of R.C. § 709.023(E)(4), as a matter of law, to appellant’s prejudice.”

{¶ 9} Summary-judgment proceedings present the appellate court with the unique opportunity of reviewing the evidence in the same manner as the trial court. Smiddy v. Wedding Party, Inc. (1987), 30 Ohio St.3d 35, 36, 30 OBR 78, 506 N.E.2d 212. Therefore, we must refer to Civ.R. 56(C), which provides: “Summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, written admissions, affidavits, transcripts of evidence, and written stipulations of fact, if any, timely filed in the action, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. * * * A summary judgment shall not be rendered unless it appears from the evidence or stipulation, and only from the evidence or stipulation, that reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion and that conclusion is adverse to the party against whom the motion for summary judgment is made, that party being entitled to have the evidence or stipulation construed most strongly in the party’s favor.”

{¶ 10} Pursuant to the above rule, a trial court may not enter summary judgment if it appears that a material fact is genuinely disputed. The party moving for summary judgment bears the initial burden of informing the trial court of the basis for its motion and identifying those portions of the record that [271]*271demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. The moving party may not make a conclusory assertion that the nonmoving party has no evidence to prove its case. The moving party must specifically point to some evidence that demonstrates that the nonmoving party cannot support its claim. If the moving party satisfies this requirement, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to set forth specific facts demonstrating that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Vahila v. Hall (1997), 77 Ohio St.3d 421, 429, 674 N.E.2d 1164, citing Dresher v. Burt (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 280, 293, 662 N.E.2d 264.

{¶ 11} We shall apply such a standard in reviewing appellant’s assignments of error.

I, II

{¶ 12} Appellant, in its two assignments of error, argues that the trial court erred in granting appellees’ motion for summary judgment while denying that filed by appellant. We disagree.

{¶ 13} Appellees, in the case sub judice, filed their annexation petition pursuant to R.C. 709.023 as an expedited Type 2 annexation. As an initial matter, we note that review of this type of annexation is limited under R.C. 709.023(G). That section states as follows: “There is no appeal in law or equity from the Board’s entry of any resolution under this section, but any party may seek a writ of mandamus to compel the Board of County Commissioners to perform its duties under this section.”

{¶ 14} In the case sub judice, appellant did seek a vwit of mandamus requesting the trial court to order the board of county commissioners to rescind the resolution approving the annexation. This is a procedure this court found to be appropriate in our February 17, 2009 opinion of Lawrence Twp. Bd. of Trustees v. Canal Fulton, Stark App. No. 2008CA00021, 2009-Ohio-759, 2009 WL 418752. In that case, we held as follows: “Although it is easier to conceptualize Appellant’s challenge as being one seeking prohibition as opposed to mandamus given the board of commissioners’ resolution approving annexation, it is conceivable to frame Appellant’s mandamus complaint as one to compel the board of commissioners to reject the annexation petition because of the lack of signatures of the owner of the property to be annexed. Therefore, mandamus may lie. The crux of the issue becomes whether [the] board of commissioners had a clear legal duty to approve [or reject] the petition.” Id. at ¶ 36.

{¶ 15} A writ of mandamus will issue if the party seeking the writ demonstrates that the respondent is under a clear duty to perform the requested act, that there is a clear legal right to the requested relief, and that there is no plain and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law. State ex rel. [272]*272Berger v. McMonagle (1983), 6 Ohio St.3d 28, 29, 6 OBR 50, 451 N.E.2d 225, citing State ex rel. Heller v. Miller (1980), 61 Ohio St.2d 6, 15 O.O.3d 3, 399 N.E.2d 66, paragraph one of the syllabus.

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Bluebook (online)
923 N.E.2d 1180, 185 Ohio App. 3d 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawrence-township-board-of-trustees-v-city-of-canal-fulton-ohioctapp-2009.