Ort v. Hutchinson

181 N.E.2d 807, 114 Ohio App. 251, 19 Ohio Op. 2d 159, 1961 Ohio App. LEXIS 654
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 21, 1961
Docket221
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 181 N.E.2d 807 (Ort v. Hutchinson) 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
Ort v. Hutchinson, 181 N.E.2d 807, 114 Ohio App. 251, 19 Ohio Op. 2d 159, 1961 Ohio App. LEXIS 654 (Ohio Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

Guernsey, P. J.

This action in mandamus was filed in this court by one Robert N. Ort. The caption and style of the amended petition, which for the purposes of clarity we will hereafter refer to as the petition, are as in an action brought in the name of an individual, and there is no allegation that the action is brought in the name of the state of Ohio on the relation of Ort. The defendants are the Mayor and the Civil Service Commission of the city of Defiance.

After formal allegations, Ort alleges that the commission caused notice to be published on or about March 19, 1960, of an examination to be given on March 28, 1960, for the purpose of promotion to the rank of Captain in the Defiance City Fire Department of members of the department then classified as drivers. He then alleges:

“The petitioner further says that the Defiance commissioners failed to publish, in said notice, or in any other notice, a description of the source of material from which the examination questions were prepared and further that the said defendant commissioners failed, at any time prior to said examination, to provide and make readily accessible, such source of materials to the examinees, as required by law.

“Plaintiff further says said examination, as advertised, was conducted on March 28, 1960, as aforesaid, and this petitioner was eligible for and did take said examination, but was not required to and did not waive notice of the aforesaid description of the source of material or his right to have said source of material made readily accessible.

“That the defendant commissioners thereafter, by a post card post marked March 31, at 4:30 p. m., 1960, notified this petitioner of an apparently corrected grade made on said examination, without allowing said examinee to inspect the rating keys *253 or answers to the examination or to file any protest he then deemed advisable, all in violation of the laws of Ohio.

* ‘ The petitioner did file, on April 4, 1960, a written request to examine the rating keys or answers to the questions propounded on said examination and was advised by said commissioners that no such rating key or answers had been prepared in advance of the examination.

“Plaintiff further says that he has protested the legality of said examination and that said commissioners have failed and refused to set aside the aforesaid examination as void; that said William E. Daoust, as Mayor of the city of Defiance, Ohio, has made, in his official capacity as such Mayor, purported promotions of Clarence Bohn, Jr. and Robert M. [sic] Ort, within the ranks of said' fire department, based upon the purported results of the aforesaid void examination, and this petitioner claims said promotions to be invalid, and has reason to believe that the same have been officially rescinded by said mayor.”

To these allegations Ort appended the following prayer:

“Wherefore, Plaintiff prays that a Writ of Mandamus issue against the defendant, Defiance City Civil Service Commission, requiring it to set aside said examination of March 28, 1960, and the results thereof, as being void and further says that a writ of mandamus issue against William E. Daoust as Mayor of the city of Defiance, Ohio, requiring him as such mayor, to void all promotions made within the Fire Department of the city of Defiance, Ohio, since . March 28, 1960, and further requiring him to order the said defendant, Defiance City Civil Service Commission to duly conduct a new examination in place of and for the purpose of the aforesaid examination of March 28,1960, and for such orders in the premises as may be just and proper.”

To this petition the defendants demurred, their first ground being that “such amended petition is not in the name of the state of Ohio as required by Ohio Revised Code Section 2731.04.”

Plaintiff objects to the form of the demurrer claiming that the stated grounds are not within those prescribed by Section 2309.08, Revised Code. However, as to the first ground this contention is not valid for it comes clearly within the provision of subparagraph (C) that “the plaintiff has not legal capacity to sue,”

*254 As to the merits of the first ground of the demurrer, it is specifically and plainly provided by Section 2731.04, Revised Code, that:

“Application for the writ of mandamus must be by petition, in the name of the state on the relation of the person applying, and verified by affidavit. * * *” (Emphasis added.)

In the case of Gannon v. Gallagher, Dir., 145 Ohio St., 170, relied upon by defendants, the Supreme Court, noting that the action was not instituted in conformity with this provision of the statute but finding that the appellant had an adequate remedy at law, affirmed a judgment of the Court of Appeals dismissing appellant’s petition following the sustaining of a demurrer thereto. The basis on which the appellate court sustained the demurrer does not appear in the opinion of the Supreme Court' nor does it appear whether the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment merely because there was an adequate remedy at law, without reference to the fact that the action was not brought in the name of the state. That case cannot, therefore, be considered conclusive on the issue herein.

Petitioner claims, however, that two later cases of the Supreme Court, namely L. & M. Properties v. Burke, Mayor, 152 Ohio St., 28, and State, ex rel. Babcock, v. Perkins, 165 Ohio St., 185, support the proposition that it is not necessary to bring an action in mandamus in the name of the state. Nothing to such effect is contained in the syllabus of either case, which states the law of each case. In the L. & M. Properties case it was merely noted (p. 32) that no objection had been made on the ground that the action was not brought in the name of the state, and the judgment of the trial court sustaining a demurrer to the petition was affirmed. That case does not stand for what the plaintiff claims it to stand. In the Babcock case Judge Zimmerman merely noted that “a violation of Section 2731.09, Revised Code, constitutes a breach of a procedural statute only.” The procedure referred to was that pertaining to the filing of a demurrer, which procedure had not been objected to in the trial court. The Babcock case, in this respect, does not apply to matters of substantive law and does not purport to determine whether the requirement that the action in mandamus be brought in the name of the state of Ohio is mandatory.

Plaintiff also relies on the case of State, ex rel. Jackson, v. *255 Dayton City Commission, 30 Ohio Law Abs., 378, wherein the Court of Appeals for Montgomery County said:

“Under the pleadings and agreed statement of facts we are unable to see any justifiable reason for bringing the action in the name of the state of Ohio. We think it is purely an individual action and shall so treat the case. Sidney E. Jackson individually will be plaintiff, and the words ‘State of Ohio ex rel.,’ will be treated as surplusage.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
181 N.E.2d 807, 114 Ohio App. 251, 19 Ohio Op. 2d 159, 1961 Ohio App. LEXIS 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ort-v-hutchinson-ohioctapp-1961.