State ex rel. Brookpark Entertainment, Inc. v. Cuyahoga County Board of Elections

573 N.E.2d 596, 60 Ohio St. 3d 44, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 1169
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMay 29, 1991
DocketNo. 90-2255
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 573 N.E.2d 596 (State ex rel. Brookpark Entertainment, Inc. v. Cuyahoga County Board of Elections) 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
State ex rel. Brookpark Entertainment, Inc. v. Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, 573 N.E.2d 596, 60 Ohio St. 3d 44, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 1169 (Ohio 1991).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Three conditions must be satisfied before a writ of prohibition will issue: (1) the court or officer against whom the writ is sought is about to exercise judicial or quasi-judicial power, (2) the exercise of such power is unauthorized by law, and (3) refusal of the writ will cause injury for which no adequate remedy in the ordinary cause of law exists. State, ex rel. Racing Guild of Ohio, v. Morgan (1985), 17 Ohio St. 3d 54, 17 OBR 45, 476 N.E. 2d 1060. A writ of mandamus will issue where the relator demonstrates that he is entitled to respondent’s performance of a clear legal duty and that he has no adequate [46]*46remedy in the ordinary course of law. State, ex rel. Westchester Estates, Inc., v. Bacon (1980), 61 Ohio St. 2d 42, 15 O.O. 3d 53, 399 N.E. 2d 81, paragraph one of the syllabus. For the following reasons, we hold that Brookpark has failed to satisfy both of these tests.

Prohibition

Brookpark contends that the respondents are all about to exercise quasi-judicial authority. “Quasi-judicial authority” has been defined as “ ‘ * * * the power to hear and to determine controversies between the public and individuals which require a hearing resembling a judicial trial * * * .’ ” State, ex rel. Hensley, v. Nowak (1990), 52 Ohio St. 3d 98, 99, 556 N.E. 2d 171, 173, quoting State, ex rel. Methodist Book Concern, v. Guckenherger (1937), 57 Ohio App. 13, 16-17, 9 O.O. 30, 31, 11 N.E. 2d 277, 279, affirmed (1937), 133 Ohio St. 27, 9 O.O. 432, 10 N.E. 2d 1001.

Canvassing and certifying election results, notifying appropriate authorities about these results, and physically picking up liquor permits do not involve hearings and do not require respondents to settle controversies of any kind. See State, ex rel. O’Grady, v. Brown (1976), 48 Ohio St. 2d 17, 2 O.O. 3d 94, 356 N.E. 2d 296; State, ex rel. Glass, v. Brown (1977), 52 Ohio St. 2d 7, 6 O.O. 3d 76, 368 N.E. 2d 837 (writs of prohibition to prevent Secretary of State from placing matters on ballot denied because no quasi-judicial authority at issue). Cf. Barton v. Butler Cty. Bd. of Elections (1988), 39 Ohio St. 3d 291, 530 N.E. 2d 871 (election officials exercise quasi-judicial authority in determining the sufficiency of referendum petitions). Brookpark, therefore, has failed to show the first prerequisite for a writ of prohibition to issue.

Brookpark next argues that by declaring the local option election untimely, the district court’s decision establishes that the election was void, and, therefore, that respondents have no authority to determine and act on the election results. Relying on the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and estoppel by judgment, Brookpark maintains that the parties in this case are bound by the district court’s judgment. We disagree.

Res judicata refers to the principle that:

“A final judgment or decree rendered upon the merits, without fraud or collusion, by a court of competent jurisdiction, is conclusive of the rights, questions and facts in issue as to the parties and their privies, and is a complete bar to any subsequent action .upon the same cause of action between the parties or those in privity with them. * * * .” (Emphasis added.) Whitehead v. Gen. Tel. Co. (1969), 20 Ohio St. 2d 108, 49 O.O. 2d 435, 254 N.E. 2d 10, paragraph one of the syllabus.

Collateral estoppel, an aspect of res judicata, prevents a question that has been actually and necessarily determined by a court of competent jurisdiction in a first cause of action from being relitigated between the same parties or their privies in a second, different cause of action. Goodson v. McDonough Power Equip., Inc. (1983), 2 Ohio St. 3d 193, 195, 2 OBR 732, 734, 443 N.E. 2d 978, 981.

Likewise, under the principle of estoppel by judgment:

“* * * [T]he final adjudication of a material issue by a court of competent jurisdiction binds the parties in any subsequent proceeding between or among them, irrespective of a difference in forms or causes of action. * * *” State, ex rel. Ohio Water Serv. Co., v. Mahoning Valley Sanitary Dist. (1959), 169 Ohio St. 31, 8 O.O. 2d 1, 157 N.E. 2d 116, paragraph two of the syllabus. Accord Kelly v. Georgia-[47]*47Pacific Corp. (1989), 46 Ohio St. 3d 134, 137, 545 N.E. 2d 1244, 1248. But, see, Krahn v. Kinney (1989), 43 Ohio St. 3d 103, 107, 538 N.E. 2d 1058, 1062 (estoppel lay judgment does not apply where the causes of action are not the same).

Each of these doctrines requires a judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction for its preclusive effect to apply. Here, however, the district court specifically held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction, and, for that reason, it dismissed Brookpark’s case. Thus, even though the district court had first discussed how R.C. 4301.321 and 4301.331 apply to the instant local option election and went on to discuss Brookpark’s constitutional arguments, the court’s judgment is not conclusive of these matters. Accordingly, we hold that neither the district court’s factual findings nor its conclusions of law are binding as between these parties.

Brookpark also urges us to consider the district court’s decision as persuasive authority. We, however, are unable to accept that court’s reading of Ohio local option law or its finding that Brookpark’s violation “occurred,” for the purpose of this law, on October 1, 1989.

The district court read R.C. 4301.321 to require an election within one year of a permit holder’s violation of liquor control law. The time limit in R.C. 4301.321, however, is keyed to the date on which the liquor control commission finds the violation, not the date on which the violation occurs. The statute stated, in pertinent part:

“The electors of an election precinct may exercise the privilege of local option * * * if the holder of the permit has been found by the liquor control commission to have violated any provision of this chapter * * * of the Revised Code within one year prior to the election.” Am. S.B. No. 481, Ohio Leg. Serv. (1989) 5-171, 5-172.

Indeed, contrary to the district court’s decision, it is R.C. 4301.331, not R.C. 4301.321, that is keyed to the date on which a violation occurs. Establishing a time limit for the petitions that initiate the local option process, R.C. 4301.331 provided, in pertinent part:

“* * * Such a petition is valid only if the violation of a provision of Chapter 4301. * * * of the Revised Code occurred within one year prior to the date on which the petition is presented to the board of elections. * * *” H.B. No. 562, 142 Ohio Laws, Part II, 4332, 4342.

Furthermore, the material evidence in this case is not in dispute, and none of it supports the district court’s conclusion that Brookpark committed its violation on October 1, 1989. Instead, the record plainly establishes that the commission found Brookpark in violation of liquor control law based on an act that took place on August 7, 1989. Accordingly, we specifically find that Brookpark’s violation occurred on August 7, 1989.1

Having made this finding, we now [48]*48apply R.C. 4301.331.

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Bluebook (online)
573 N.E.2d 596, 60 Ohio St. 3d 44, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 1169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-brookpark-entertainment-inc-v-cuyahoga-county-board-of-ohio-1991.