Record Publishing Co. v. Kainrad

551 N.E.2d 1286, 49 Ohio St. 3d 296, 1990 Ohio LEXIS 124
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 21, 1990
DocketNos. 88-2042 and 88-2105
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 551 N.E.2d 1286 (Record Publishing Co. v. Kainrad) 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
Record Publishing Co. v. Kainrad, 551 N.E.2d 1286, 49 Ohio St. 3d 296, 1990 Ohio LEXIS 124 (Ohio 1990).

Opinions

Douglas, J.

This case presents us with a number of novel issues. May a newspaper, published once a week as a law journal, be classified as a “daily law journal” as used in R.C. 2701.09?3 What is a newspaper of “general circulation” as set forth in R.C. 7.12?4 Do judges of the courts of record in a county have the authority to designate a publication as the exclusive carrier of all notices which, by law, are required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation? Does a court, through its duly authorized members, have inherent authority to designate where its court calendars will be published?

In this case, the Legal News contends that the Legal News is a “daily” newspaper and that it is a newspaper of “general circulation.” The Legal News also contends that the judges have both statutory authority and inherent power to designate the Legal News to publish court calendars and other notices required by law to be published so long as the court permits [300]*300counsel to request that legal notices be published in some other publication.

Record argues the converse. Record contends that the Legal News is not a “daily” law journal, that it is not a newspaper of “general circulation,” and that the judges do not have either statutory authority or inherent power to designate a specific publication as the only authorized place where legal notices may be published. Record also contends that the practical effect of the April 7, 1983 order is to require all notices to be published in the Legal News.

In answering these contentions, the court of appeals held that a law journal, which publishes the calendar of a court, may do so even if it publishes weekly, but only if there is no daily law journal published in the county. If there is a daily law journal published, then, held the court of appeals, R.C. 2701.09 requires that the court calendar be published in the daily law journal.

The court of appeals also held that the Legal News is a paper of general circulation. Finally, the court of appeals held that the April 7, 1983 order requiring publication of all legal notices in the Legal News, unless counsel requested otherwise, was invalid as being in violation of R.C. 7.12.

Except as to its finding that the Legal News is a paper of general circulation (an issue not dispositive of these appeals), we agree with the court of appeals. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals in all material respects.

I

As to the issue of “daily law journal,” R.C. 2701.09 requires a court to publish court calendars in a daily law journal if such a journal is published within the county. Record does not allege it is a daily law journal. The Legal News is published weekly and, therefore, it is obviously not a daily law journal. Hence, in the case at bar, a daily law journal is not published in Portage County. Therefore, the mandatory obligations on a court, pursuant to R.C. 2701.09, are not applicable.

We have long held that “[t]he power of a court to enforce its own proper orders is fundamental and inherent, as well as constitutional; necessarily so, to give it standing and afford respect and obedience to its judgment. This is upon the broad ground of public policy, and without which power the judicial edifice would fall. * * *” Wind v. State (1921), 102 Ohio St. 62, 64, 130 N.E. 35, 36.

Accordingly, if the county in which the court is located does not have a daily law journal, a court has the inherent authority to designate where its own court calendars will be published. Therefore, the orders of the judges so far as they can be construed to mandate that the courts’ oum calendars be published in the Legal News are a valid exercise of the judges’ inherent authority and the judgment of the court of appeals in so holding is entirely proper.

II

While it is not central to our decision, the issue of whether the Legal News is a newspaper of “general circulation” was extensively briefed and argued. Because of the apparent interest in the question as to what factors must exist for a newspaper to be one of “general circulation,” we make the following observations.

R.C. 7.12 clearly states that “[whenever any legal publication is required by law to be made in a newspaper * * *, the newspaper shall also be a newspaper of general circulation in the municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision * * (Emphasis added.) The statute then sets [301]*301forth specific requirements that must be met in order for a newspaper (except one performing the functions described in R.C. 2701.09, to wit: a newspaper authorized to publish court calendars) to be a publication of general circulation. Most of the requirements are self-explanatory and thus we comment only on that portion of the statute which provides that “[s]uch publication must be of a type to which the general public resorts for passing events * *

Legal News contends, and the court of appeals found, that Legal News is a newspaper of general circulation. We do not agree. Upon a thorough review of the record,5 we are fully persuaded that it is unrealistic to believe that the general public would purchase Legal News to become appraised of passing events of a political, religious, commercial or social nature. Copies of the Legal News submitted as part of the record are, in fact, absolutely devoid of the type of “passing events” specifically referenced in R.C. 7.12.

There is good reason for the “general circulation” requirement. The purpose of “notice” is to provide “* * * information, an advice, or written warning, in more or less formal shape, intended to appraise a person of some proceeding in which his interests are involved, or informing him of some fact which it is his right to know and the duty of the notifying party to communicate.” Black’s Law Dictionary (5 Ed. 1979) 957.

In addition, there are a number of statutory provisions and rules which permit and require, under certain circumstances, that notice be given by publication.6 For example, Civ. R. 4.4 provides:

“When the residence of a defendant is unknown, service shall be made by publication in actions where such service is authorized by law. * * *
“Upon the filing of an affidavit the clerk shall cause service of notice to be made by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the complaint is filed.” (Emphasis added.)

Further, notice, as a part of general constitutional law, requires that “* * * if feasible, notice must be reasonably calculated to inform the parties of proceedings which may directly and adversely affect their legally protected interests.” Walker v. Hutchinson (1956), 352 U.S. 112, 115.

Thus, literally construed, R.C. 7.12 provides a means by which interested parties involved in litigation can receive adequate notice. Applying these tests, the Legal News, a weekly publication with circulation of two hundred fifty-one and not publishing news of “passing events,” is not a newspaper of general circulation. Record, with a daily circulation of approximately twenty-five thousand and publishing news of “passing events,” is a newspaper of general circulation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
551 N.E.2d 1286, 49 Ohio St. 3d 296, 1990 Ohio LEXIS 124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/record-publishing-co-v-kainrad-ohio-1990.