State ex rel. McGinty v. Eighth District Court of Appeals

2015 Ohio 937, 28 N.E.3d 88, 142 Ohio St. 3d 100
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 17, 2015
DocketNo. 2014-1739
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 2015 Ohio 937 (State ex rel. McGinty v. Eighth District Court of Appeals) 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. McGinty v. Eighth District Court of Appeals, 2015 Ohio 937, 28 N.E.3d 88, 142 Ohio St. 3d 100 (Ohio 2015).

Opinions

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} This is an action for a writ of prohibition to prevent respondent, the Eighth District Court of Appeals, from exercising jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal. The underlying criminal case involves Lance Mason, a sitting Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge, who has been accused of a violent assault on his wife. Mason filed a pretrial motion to disqualify the prosecutor’s office and appoint a special prosecutor, which the judge denied. Mason appealed, and the Eighth District issued a stay of the trial court proceedings while it considers whether it has jurisdiction to entertain the appeal.

{¶ 2} Relator, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, filed this original action in prohibition, asserting that the Eighth District lacks jurisdiction to entertain the appeal and lacked jurisdiction to issue the stay. Because the Eighth District patently and unambiguously lacks jurisdiction over an appeal from a denial of a motion to disqualify a prosecutor, we grant the writ.

Facts

{¶ 3} Mason was indicted on three counts of felonious assault, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of endangering children, and one count of domestic violence in State v. Mason, case No. CR-14-588061, in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Before the indictment was filed in the court, the administrative judge of the court disqualified all the judges of that court from presiding over any criminal matters involving Mason. The chief justice of this court appointed Judge Patricia Cosgrove to preside over the criminal case against Mason.

{¶ 4} Also before the indictment was filed, Mason filed a motion for the appointment of a special prosecutor, seeking to prevent McGinty’s office from prosecuting a criminal case against him. McGinty filed a brief in opposition to the motion. The trial court held a hearing, and Mason filed a reply brief in support of his motion. McGinty filed a response to -the reply.

{¶ 5} On August 26, 2014, Judge Cosgrove issued an opinion denying Mason’s motion for appointment of a special prosecutor. In the order, the court found that Mason had not shown the requisite “actual prejudice” that would justify the disqualification of the entire Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office in the case. The court also held that there was no conflict of interest shown.

{¶ 6} Later that day, Mason filed a notice of appeal of the trial court’s denial of his motion; the notice does not identify the law it relies on to invoke the appellate [102]*102court’s jurisdiction. The court of appeals captioned the appeal State v. Mason and assigned it case No. 101841. Also on August 26, Mason filed a motion to stay the trial court proceedings and a motion to file an amended praecipe and docketing statement.

{¶ 7} On August 27, 2014, McGinty filed a consolidated motion to dismiss for lack of a final, appealable order and brief in opposition to Mason’s motion to stay the trial court proceedings. The motion to dismiss argued that the order being appealed was not final and appealable.

{¶ 8} On August 29, 2014, the Eighth District issued an order granting the motion to stay proceedings while it considered the pending motion to dismiss for lack of a final, appealable order. On October 2, the court issued a nunc pro tunc order correcting the journal entry to include Judge Kenneth A. Rocco’s dissent.

{¶ 9} On August 29, McGinty filed a motion to reconsider the stay order, and on September 2, Mason filed a brief in opposition. On September 2, Mason also filed a brief in opposition to McGinty’s motion to dismiss, in which he argued that the denial of the motion to appoint a special prosecutor is a final, appealable order under R.C. 2505.02(B)(4). That same day, McGinty filed a reply brief to Mason’s brief in opposition to McGinty’s motion to dismiss.

{¶ 10} On October 2, 2014, the Eighth District issued four rulings. It referred the motion to dismiss for lack of a final, appealable order to a merit panel. Judge Rocco dissented with opinion from this ruling. The court granted Mason’s motion for leave to file an amended praecipe and docketing statement, and it sua sponte granted an extension of time to complete the record. Finally, the court denied McGinty’s motion to reconsider the stay order.

{¶ 11} McGinty requests that this court find that the Eighth District patently and unambiguously lacks jurisdiction over Mason’s interlocutory appeal and that we issue a peremptory writ of prohibition requiring the court of appeals to dismiss the appeal and remand the case for trial.

Analysis

{¶ 12} To be entitled to the requested writ of prohibition, McGinty must establish that (1) the court of appeals is about to or has exercised judicial power, (2) the exercise of that power is unauthorized by law, and (3) either denying the writ would result in injury for which no other adequate remedy exists in the ordinary course of law, State ex rel. Bell v. Pfeiffer, 131 Ohio St.3d 114, 2012-Ohio-54, 961 N.E.2d 181, ¶ 18; State ex rel. Miller v. Warren Cty. Bd. of Elections, 130 Ohio St.3d 24, 2011-Ohio-4623, 955 N.E.2d 379, ¶ 12, or the lack of jurisdiction is patent and unambiguous, Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C. v. Oil & Gas Comm., 135 Ohio St.3d 204, 2013-Ohio-224, 985 N.E.2d 480, ¶ 11.

[103]*103 Exercise of judicial power

{¶ 13} The Eighth District has exercised judicial power in granting the stay and is contemplating further exercise of judicial power by considering entertaining the appeal. The court of appeals argues that a writ of prohibition is inappropriate because it has yet to exercise jurisdiction over the merits of Mason’s appeal. But by issuing a stay, the Eighth District has exercised jurisdiction. State v. Hochhausler, 76 Ohio St.3d 455, 464, 668 N.E.2d 457 (1996) (“Inherent within a court’s jurisdiction, and essential to the orderly and efficient administration of justice, is the power to grant or deny stays”). Thus, a court lacking jurisdiction over an appeal also lacks jurisdiction to issue a stay pending that appeal.

{¶ 14} Therefore, by issuing the stay, the Eighth District has exercised judicial power and may further exercise it by entertaining the appeal.

Alternate remedy

{¶ 15} Prosecutor McGinty claims to have no adequate remedy at law because, he asserts, the alternate remedy, a decision from the Eighth District after full briefing and argument on whether a special prosecutor must be appointed, is neither beneficial nor speedy. He cites various harms that might come from delaying a domestic-violence trial.

{¶ 16} However, McGinty does have a remedy in that he could get a decision from the Eighth District and appeal to this court if it is adverse. The delay and expense caused by an appeal do not render that appeal an inadequate remedy. State ex rel. Lyons v. Zaleski, 75 Ohio St.3d 623, 626, 665 N.E.2d 212 (1996) (“contentions that appeal from any subsequent adverse final judgment would be inadequate due to time and expense are without merit”), citing Whitehall ex rel. Wolfe v. Ohio Civ. Rights Comm., 74 Ohio St.3d 120, 124, 656 N.E.2d 684 (1995), and State ex rel. Gillivan v. Bd. of Tax Appeals, 70 Ohio St.3d 196, 200,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2015 Ohio 937, 28 N.E.3d 88, 142 Ohio St. 3d 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-mcginty-v-eighth-district-court-of-appeals-ohio-2015.