State ex rel. Charvat v. Frye

114 Ohio St. 3d 76
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 27, 2007
DocketNo. 2006-2275
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 114 Ohio St. 3d 76 (State ex rel. Charvat v. Frye) 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. Charvat v. Frye, 114 Ohio St. 3d 76 (Ohio 2007).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} This is an appeal from a judgment granting a writ of procedendo to compel a common pleas court judge to proceed in a civil case. Because the judge erroneously stayed the case, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

{¶ 2} Appellee, Philip J. Charvat, resides with his family at their home in Westerville, Ohio. In 2004, Charvat received telemarketing calls for satellite transmission services that were made on behalf of Dish TV Now, Inc. (“Dish TV”) and Echostar Satellite, L.L.C. (“Echostar”). According to Charvat, each of these telephone calls began with a prerecorded message, and no one in his family had given the callers express permission to place the calls.

{¶ 3} In 2004, Charvat filed a complaint in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas against Dish TV and other entities. The case was assigned to appellant, Judge Richard A. Frye, of the common pleas court. In his second amended complaint, Charvat sought money damages, a declaratory judgment, and injunctive relief against Dish TV and Echostar for alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, Section 227, Title 47, U.S.Code, the [77]*77Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, R.C. Chapter 1345, and administrative rules adopted pursuant to those laws for the nine telemarketing calls made on behalf of Dish TV and Echostar to the Charvat home in 2004. Charvat set forth 66 counts in the second amended complaint. In December 2005, Judge Frye denied Charvat’s motion for partial summary judgment and dismissed Charvat’s 66th cause of action.

{¶ 4} On December 16, 2005, Judge Frye issued a journal entry ordering Charvat to show cause why the case should not be stayed until Charvat submits an affidavit attesting that he has registered his telephone numbers on the national do-not-call registry.

{¶ 5} Charvat submitted a timely response to Judge Frye’s show-cause order in which he specified by affidavit that (1) he had not registered either of his home telephone numbers with the national do-not-call registry, (2) he did not intend to register his telephone numbers on the national do-not-call registry in the future, and (3) he did not oppose all forms of telemarketing; e.g., he welcomed telemarketing calls concerning life insurance, school products, and market research.

{¶ 6} On December 28, 2005, Judge Frye stayed the case and removed it from the active docket. Judge Frye noted that the case would be returned to the court’s active docket if Charvat registered his home telephone numbers on the national do-not-call list.

{¶ 7} Shortly thereafter, Charvat filed a petition in the Court of Appeals for Franklin County for a writ of procedendo to compel Judge Frye “to proceed to schedule and preside over a jury trial” in the civil case. The court of appeals granted the writ.

(¶ 8} In his appeal as of right, Judge Frye asserts that the court of appeals erred in granting the writ of procedendo.

Motion to Dismiss

{¶ 9} Before addressing the merits of Judge Frye’s appeal, we briefly consider Charvat’s motion to dismiss this appeal.

{¶ 10} Charvat asserts that Judge Frye’s proposition of law does not comply with S.Ct.Prac.R. VI(2)(B)(4), which requires that an appellant’s merit brief contain “[a]n argument, headed by the proposition of law that appellant contends is applicable to the facts of the case and that could serve as a syllabus for the case if appellant prevails. See Drake v. Bucher (1966), 5 Ohio St.2d 37, at 39 [34 O.O.2d 53, 213 N.E.2d 182]. If several propositions of law are presented, the argument shall be divided with each proposition set forth as a subheading.”

{¶ 11} Judge Frye’s proposition arguably fails to contain the facts that he alleges compel the conclusion that the court of appeals erred in determining that [78]*78he abused his discretion in staying the underlying case. Nevertheless, the judge’s brief includes headings and subheadings to his proposition of law that presented the legal issues in this case in a sufficient, concise manner. See State ex rel. Morgan v. New Lexington, 112 Ohio St.3d 33, 2006-Ohio-6365, 857 N.E.2d 1208, ¶ 23 (relator’s failure to designate propositions of law in her merit brief did not warrant dismissal of the case, because she included argument in headings that served the purpose of presenting the legal issues in a sufficient, concise manner that did not substantially disregard S.Ct.Prac.R. VI(2)(B)(4)).

{¶ 12} Therefore, we deny Charvat’s motion to dismiss this appeal, because Judge Frye sufficiently complied with S.Ct.Prac.R. VI(2)(B)(4).

Procedendo: General Requirements

{¶ 13} To be entitled to the requested writ of procedendo, Charvat was required to establish (1) a clear legal right to have Judge Frye proceed to the merits and try Charvat’s civil case and (2) the lack of an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law. State ex rel. Weiss v. Hoover (1999), 84 Ohio St.3d 530, 531-532, 705 N.E.2d 1227. Judge Frye does not contend that Charvat has an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law to challenge the indefinite stay of the civil case, so the dispositive issue is whether Charvat established the remaining requirement for the writ.

{¶ 14} We have held that “ ‘[a] writ of procedendo is appropriate when a court has either refused to render a judgment or has unnecessarily delayed proceeding to judgment.’ ” State ex rel. CNG Financial Corp. v. Nadel, 111 Ohio St.3d 149, 2006-Ohio-5344, 855 N.E.2d 473, ¶ 20, quoting Weiss, 84 Ohio St.3d at 532, 705 N.E.2d 1227. A lower court’s refusal or failure to timely resolve a pending case is the error that procedendo was created to rectify. See, e.g., State ex rel. Rodak v. Betleski, 104 Ohio St.3d 345, 2004-Ohio-6567, 819 N.E.2d 703, ¶ 16.

{¶ 15} More pertinently, the requirements for a writ of procedendo are met if a judge erroneously stays a proceeding. State ex rel. Watkins v. Eighth Dist. Court of Appeals (1998), 82 Ohio St.3d 532, 535, 696 N.E.2d 1079 (“a writ of procedendo will issue to require a court to proceed to final judgment if the court has erroneously stayed the proceeding”).

{¶ 16} “The determination of whether to issue a stay of proceedings generally rests within the court’s discretion and will not be disturbed absent a showing of an abuse of discretion.” State ex rel. Verhovec v. Mascio (1998), 81 Ohio St.3d 334, 336, 691 N.E.2d 282. A court abuses its discretion, however, when it acts in an unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable manner. State ex rel. Worrell v. Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, 112 Ohio St.3d 116, 2006-Ohio-6513, 858 N.E.2d 380, ¶ 10.

[79]*79Erroneous Stay of Civil Case

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Bluebook (online)
114 Ohio St. 3d 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-charvat-v-frye-ohio-2007.