Mendenhall v. City of Akron

117 Ohio St. 3d 33
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 31, 2008
DocketNo. 2006-2265
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 117 Ohio St. 3d 33 (Mendenhall v. City of Akron) 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
Mendenhall v. City of Akron, 117 Ohio St. 3d 33 (Ohio 2008).

Opinion

Lanzinger, J.

[34]*34{¶ 1} In this case, we decide whether a municipality may constitutionally use its home-rule powers to authorize a method of traffic enforcement that imposes a civil fine on the registered owner of a vehicle identified by automatic camera to be speeding in a school zone.

{¶ 2} We have accepted pursuant to S.CtPrac.R. XVIII(6) an issue certified by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division: “Whether a municipality has the power under home rule to enact civil penalties for the offense of violating a traffic signal light or for the offense of speeding, both of which are criminal offenses under the Ohio Revised Code.” Although, as certified by the federal court, the issue embraces both speed-limit and red-light enforcement, the record here deals with a single city ordinance involving enforcement of speed limits. We will therefore confine our analysis to comparing the ordinance with the state statute dealing with speed regulations, acknowledging, however, that the same analysis will dispose of questions concerning red-light cameras.

{¶ 3} The federal litigation giving rise to the certified question involved a challenge to an Akron ordinance.

I. The Akron Ordinance

{¶ 4} The facts as presented by the federal court have been stipulated by all parties. Prompted by the death of a child caused by a hit-and-run accident in a school crosswalk, in September 2005, the Akron City Council passed Ordinance 461-2005, providing for an “automated mobile speed enforcement system.” This ordinance was codified in Chapter 79.0 and Section 79.01 of the city code and authorizes the use of cameras in mobile units to identify speed-limit violators in school zones.

{¶ 5} In adopting the ordinance, the city council stated that “an automated mobile speed enforcement system will assist the Akron Police Department by alleviating the need for conducting extensive conventional traffic enforcement in and around school zones.” To implement the ordinance, the city of Akron entered into a contract with Nestor Traffic Systems, Inc. (“Nestor”) to install and administer the automated enforcement system.

{¶ 6} The ordinance creates a system that Akron maintains is purely civil in nature. The system provides for the automated enforcement of existing traffic laws and does not modify any speed limits set by the state. The ordinance authorizes the imposition of civil monetary fines when the posted speed limit in the targeted enforcement areas has been violated. If a vehicle exceeds the posted speed limits, the owner of the vehicle receives a “notice of liability,” which includes photographs of the vehicle, the vehicle’s license plate, the date, time, and location of the violation, the posted speed limit, the vehicle’s speed at the time of [35]*35the violation, and the amount owed as a civil penalty. The criminal justice system is not involved in penalizing violations of the speed limit captured by an automated camera. Unlike those who receive speeding citations from a police officer who has observed the infraction, speeders caught by the automated enforcement system do not receive criminal citations, are not required to appear in traffic court, and do not have points assessed against their driving records.

{¶ 7} Owners of vehicles receiving notices of civil liability have several options. They may pay the amount owed, sign an affidavit that the vehicle was stolen or leased to someone else, or administratively appeal the violation. Owners choosing to appeal have 21 days to complete and return the notice-of-appeal section of the notice-of-liability form.

{¶ 8} Administrative appeals of notices of liability are overseen by a hearing officer, who is an independent third party appointed by the mayor of Akron. After administering the oath to any witnesses and reviewing all the evidence, the hearing officer determines whether a violation of Section 79.01 of the Codified Ordinances of the city of Akron is established by a preponderance of the evidence and whether the owner of the vehicle is liable for that violation. The images of the vehicles and their license plates, the ownership records of the vehicles, and the speed of the vehicles on the date in question are considered prima facie proof of a civil violation and are made available to the appealing party.

II. Complaints Filed

{¶ 9} In December 2005, a few months after the automated enforcement system was instituted, two lawsuits challenging the ordinance were filed against the city and against Nestor, asserting claims that the ordinance exceeded Akron’s home rule authority and also violated due process.

{¶ 10} One such suit was filed by Kelly Mendenhall. In November 2005, Mendenhall received an automated citation, noting her vehicle’s speed of 39 m.p.h. in a 25 m.p.h. zone. Mendenhall exercised her right to an administrative appeal, which was sustained. The citation was dismissed, and no civil penalty was assessed against her because on the day of her citation, the 25 m.p.h. speed limit sign was either missing or had been vandalized.

{¶ 11} Despite dismissal of her citation, Mendenhall filed a complaint and class-action lawsuit for declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and monetary judgment against the city of Akron, the city council members in their official capacity, and Nestor. The city of Akron and Nestor removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.

{¶ 12} The second lawsuit was instituted by three individuals. Janice A. Sipe and Joanne L. Lattur both received single civil citations for speeding, did not appeal, and have not paid the fine. Wayne Burger received two civil speeding [36]*36citations, 20 minutes apart, in the same school zone. The city dismissed the second violation, as it did for others who received two citations in the same day during the beginning of the program. Burger’s administrative appeal was denied because he had failed to appear at the hearing. He also has not paid his fine. Sipe, Lattur, and Burger filed a complaint similar to Mendenhall’s. The city and Nestor also removed their case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.

{¶ 13} In both cases, the federal district court initially ruled that the city of Akron had the power under home rule to create the automated speed-enforcement system because the ordinance creating the system “neither permits or [sic] licenses that which the laws of the Ohio General Assembly either forbid or prohibit and vice versa.” See Mendenhall v. Akron (May 17, 2006), N.D.Ohio Nos. 5:06 CV 0139 and 5:06 CV 0154, 2006 WL 1371641. The district court also held that “Akron City Ordinance 461-2005 is a proper exercise of the powers bestowed on the City of Akron by Article XVIII, Section 3 of the Ohio Constitution.” Id.

{¶ 14} Following that decision, however, the Court of Common Pleas of Trumbull County held, in Moadus v. Girard (July 6, 2006), Trumbull C.P. No. 05-CV-1927, 2006 WL 4092324, that a municipality’s speed-enforcement system using a camera and radar device violated the Home Rule Amendment of the Ohio Constitution. In reaching its decision, the court of common pleas rejected the federal district court’s reasoning and determined that the Girard system “transform[ed] what the State has defined as criminal conduct into merely a civil wrong.”

{¶ 15} As a result of Moadus,

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Bluebook (online)
117 Ohio St. 3d 33, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mendenhall-v-city-of-akron-ohio-2008.