North Electric Co. v. United Steelworkers

277 N.E.2d 59, 28 Ohio App. 2d 253, 57 Ohio Op. 2d 375, 1971 Ohio App. LEXIS 435
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 31, 1971
Docket1582
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 277 N.E.2d 59 (North Electric Co. v. United Steelworkers) 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
North Electric Co. v. United Steelworkers, 277 N.E.2d 59, 28 Ohio App. 2d 253, 57 Ohio Op. 2d 375, 1971 Ohio App. LEXIS 435 (Ohio Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

Whiteside, J.

This is an appeal upon questions of law from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Craw *254 ford County finding defendants, appellants herein, to he in contempt for a violation of a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction issued by that court.

Appellants have assigned three assignments of error as follows:

“1. The Court of Common Pleas erred in finding the defendants guilty of contempt when it did not by journal entry set any amount for bond for the temporary restraining order.
“2. The Court of Common Pleas erred in finding the defendants guilty of contempt when it did not set any amount for bond for the preliminary injunction and no bond was posted.
“3. The Court of Common Pleas erred in finding the -1 ofendants guilty of contempt when mandatory requirements of Rule 65 were not followed.”

An ex parte temporary restraining order was issued by the trial court on September 16, 1970, upon motion of the plaintiff, appellee herein. A hearing was fixed for September 23, 1970, for determination as to whether a preliminary injunction should issue. Such hearing was held, and on that date the Court of Common Pleas issued a preliminary injunction. Neither the temporary restraining order nor the preliminary injunction contained any statement fixing the amount of the required bond, or even referred to such a bond. Appellee deposited with the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas the sum of $1,000 in lieu of bond at the time of issuance of the temporary restraining order. The only reference in the record is a notation on the appearance docket as follows:

“1970 Sept. 16 Temporary restraining order filed. Jol. Vol. 85, Page 60.
“1970 Sent. 16 Notice filed.
“1970 Sept. 16 Bond for injunction filed 9/16/70 Temn. Inj. granted as prayed for-Bond fixed in the amount of $1,000.00.”

At the contempt hearing we find the following statement of the trial court:

“The Court: Well, the court did fix it. The court fixed *255 it. As I remember, they asked me the size of the bond and they said, ‘Will a cash bond be all right?’ and I fixed a thonsand dollars.
“Mr. Jaffy: I see. When I looked through the records I could find no order on that temporary restraining order.
“The Court: I don’t know if there is a piece of paper in there, but they asked me and I told them whatever bond was given in the other strike cases would be the same bond here, which was a thousand dollars, and which they filed. I assume you filed it. I didn’t know whether it actually was paid in, but if it has been, why—
“Mr. Jaffy: I think—
“The Court: I don’t know if there’s a written order here. She may have, you know, the form of a bond out there. You know they have a form of a bond like a divorce case where you give cash.
“Mr. Spurlock: Yes. I remember your fixing the bond at a thousand dollars because I couldn’t furnish it until I found out how much it was. * * * ”

Civil Rule 65(C) provides, in part, that:

“No temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction is operative until the party obtaining it gives a bond executed by sufficient surety, approved by the clerk of the court granting the order or injunction, in an amount fixed by the court or judge allowing it, to secure to the party enjoined the damages he may sustain, if it is finally decided that the order or injunction should not have been granted.
“The party obtaining the order or injunction may deposit, in lieu of such bond, with the clerk of the court granting the order or injunction, currency, cashier’s check, certified check or negotiable government bonds in the amount fixed by the court.”
U # # # 77

The syllabus of State, ex rel. Indus. Comm., v. Day (1940), 136 Ohio St. 477, reads as follows:

“1. A court of record speaks through its journal. (Paragraph 1 of the syllabus in the case of Will v. McCoy, 135 Ohio St., 241, approved and followed.)
*256 “2. The requirements of this rule are not met by a mere written minute or an oral pronouncement by a court or judge without the preparation and filing of a journal entry. ’ ’

In Industrial Commission v. Musselli (1921), 102 Ohio St. 10, it is stated, at page 15:

• “It is a familiar rule that the court speaks only through its journals. Were the rule otherwise it would provide a wide field for controversy as to what the court actually decided. Not only would the features of the decision be left in doubt as between the parties to the suit, but as a lis pendens it might seriously affect the rights of others who had not been made parties thereto. * * *
“What is meant by the word ‘decision’ found in Section 11578, General Code? Is it the oral pronouncement of the judge, made from the bench, or is it rather the more deliberate decision of the court speaking through its journal entry? How can it be said that these remedial statutes are liberally construed in the interest of substantial justice if the parties to the suit are relegated, for information, not to the entries made by the court, but to an oral decision made at the caprice of the judge and possibly in the absence and without the knowledge of counsel in thw case?”

These decisions were predicated in part upor. former R. C. 2323.01 and 2323.22 which have been superseded by the Civil Rules, specifically Civil Rules 54(A) and 58. There is no indication in the Civil Rules that the principle that a court of record speaks through its journal has been abolished. Civil Rule 65(C) requires that the amount of the bond be fixed by the court. Such amount is not so fixed until it is reflected in a journal entry. The appearance docket is not the journal of the court and an entry by the clerk on the appearance docket that the bond has been fixed without specifying by whom, and not supported by any paper or writing in the file, does not meet the requirement that a court of record speaks only through its journal.

Appellee concedes that no bond was fixed or posted with respect to the preliminary injunction. However, ap- *257 pellee contends that the bond posted for the temporary restraining order automatically carries over with regard to the preliminary injunction and therefore meets the requirement of Rule 65(C). Even if a proper bond had been posted with respect to the temporary restraining order, it would not automatically constitute the required bond with respect to the preliminary injunction. Civil Rule 65(C) is essentially similar to Federal Rule 65(c). With regard to the federal rule, in

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
277 N.E.2d 59, 28 Ohio App. 2d 253, 57 Ohio Op. 2d 375, 1971 Ohio App. LEXIS 435, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-electric-co-v-united-steelworkers-ohioctapp-1971.