State ex rel. Reigert v. State Med. Bd. of Ohio

2025 Ohio 5868
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 31, 2025
Docket25AP-356
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2025 Ohio 5868 (State ex rel. Reigert v. State Med. Bd. of Ohio) 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
State ex rel. Reigert v. State Med. Bd. of Ohio, 2025 Ohio 5868 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

[Cite as State ex rel. Reigert v. State Med. Bd. of Ohio, 2025-Ohio-5868.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

TENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

State ex rel. John Reigert, :

Relator-appellant, : No. 25AP-356 (C.P.C. No. 24CV-8484) v. : (REGULAR CALENDAR) State Medical Board of Ohio, :

Respondent-appellee. :

D E C I S I O N

Rendered on December 31, 2025

On brief: John Reigert, pro se. Argued: John Reigert.

On brief: Dave Yost, Attorney General, Iris Jin, and Katherine J. Bockbrader, for appellee. Argued: Katherine J. Bockbrader.

APPEAL from the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas MENTEL, J. {¶ 1} Relator-appellant, John Reigert, pro se, appeals from a March 28, 2025 decision and entry, in relevant part, granting the motion to dismiss of respondent-appellee, State Medical Board of Ohio (“Board”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm. I. Facts and Procedural History {¶ 2} On November 5, 2024, Reigert filed a writ of mandamus against the Board. According to the complaint, non-party, Dr. Mark Barcelo, diagnosed his daughter, Lori Anne Reigert, with melanoma cancer in December 2015. (Nov. 5, 2024 Compl. at 2.) Ms. Reigert passed away on March 27, 2016. (Compl. at 2.) Four years after Ms. Reigert’s passing, another pathologist, Dr. Boris Bastian, reported to Reigert that his daughter died from “untreated, clear cell sarcoma cancer and not from any type of melanoma cancer.” No. 25AP-356 2

(Compl. at 3.) According to Reigert, a second pathologist, Dr. Rajiv Dhir, confirmed the alternative diagnosis. (Compl. at 3.) Reigert contends there is “medically certain evidence” that Dr. Barcelo departed from the minimum standard of care. (Compl. at 3.) According to Reigert, he filed a complaint for medical malpractice against the physician but later voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit. Reigert, on behalf of his daughter, then filed a complaint with the Board regarding Dr. Barcelo’s diagnosis seeking an investigation into her medical care. Reigert noted that the “medically certain evidence of Barcelo’s failed standard of care . . . were included in complaint 2020-8005.” (Compl. at 3.) Six months after Reigert filed the complaint, the Board notified him that the investigation was closed. (Compl. at 3.) Upon Reigert’s request to reopen the complaint against Dr. Barcelo, the Board, by letter dated February 23, 2021, wrote: “the entire file and the additional information that you sent to the Board were reexamined; and it was again determined that the case should, in fact, be closed because there was not sufficient basis to support formal disciplinary action by this agency.” (Appellant’s Ex. L.) {¶ 3} On June 18, 2024, Reigert filed a writ of mandamus in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to “ ‘investigate the evidence’ of complaint case 2020-8005, as required by RC4731.22(F)(1) with the expectation that in concurrence with the medically certain evidence of the complaint, find probable cause that Barcelo violated 4731.22(B)(6) and formally discipline him as mandated by RC4731.39.” (Sic passim.) Reigert v. State Med. Bd., Franklin C.P. No. 24CV-4787 (June 18, 2024 Compl. at 15.). After the Board filed various motions to dismiss, Reigert, pursuant to Civ.R. 41(A), voluntarily dismissed the complaint without prejudice. (Aug. 27, 2024 Relator Voluntary Dismissal Without Prejudice.) {¶ 4} In his refiled mandamus action, Reigert alleges that the Board failed to investigate, pursuant to its duty under R.C. 4731.22(F)(1), his complaint against Dr. Barcelo. (Nov. 5, 2024 Compl. at 1.) Reigert alleges that if the Board had met its obligations to investigate, it would have found, based on “medically certain evidence,” that Dr. Barcelo departed from the minimum standard of care in violation of R.C. 4731.22(B)(6). (Compl. at 4.) Reigert’s mandamus action sought “to order the Board to investigate the evidence of complaint case 2020-8005.” (Compl. at 15.) No. 25AP-356 3

{¶ 5} On December 10, 2024, the Board, pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(1) and (6), filed a motion to dismiss for lack of standing and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. A series of motions and responsive filings followed. On December 20, 2024, Reigert filed a combined memorandum in opposition and to dismiss the Board’s motion to dismiss. On December 26, 2024, Reigert filed a motion for judicial in-camera review of the record of the Board investigation. On December 31, 2024, Reigert filed a motion to dismiss and revise the case schedule. The Board filed a memorandum in opposition to Reigert’s motion to dismiss and a memorandum in opposition to Reigert’s motion for in-camera review on January 7 and 9, 2025, respectively. The Board then filed a motion to stay discovery and a response to Reigert’s motion to revise the case schedule on January 9, 2025. On January 13, 2025, Reigert filed a motion for remote hearing on the Board’s motion to dismiss. Reigert filed what amounts to a reply brief on January 14, 2025. {¶ 6} On March 28, 2025, the trial court granted the Board’s motion to dismiss. The trial court first found that Reigert lacked standing to file a complaint for a writ of mandamus in this case. The trial court alternatively found that the Board complied with its statutory mandate under R.C. 4731.22(F)(1). Because a decision to reopen Reigert’s complaint is discretionary, Reigert cannot demonstrate a clear legal right to mandamus. Based on the trial court’s grant of the Board’s Civ.R. 12(B)(6) motion to dismiss Reigert’s complaint for a writ of mandamus, it found the remaining motions were moot. {¶ 7} Reigert filed a timely appeal. II. Assignments of Error {¶ 8} Reigert assigns the following three assignments of error for our review:

[1.] The trial court erred as a matter of law and abused its discretion (1) by violating the Ohio Supreme Court’s instructions of 1/25 on Judicial Conduct Rule 2.6A for pro se litigant due process and denying pro se Appellant’s requests and motions for a hearing, (2) by violating Local Rule 33 in failing to provide a viable, coherent court schedule for his mandamus action, and (3) by violating CR 12(B)(6) in dismissing his complaint on 3/28/25 without notice or opportunity to submit a critical, sworn witness affidavit. [2.] The trial court erred and abused its discretion by dismissing pro se Appellant’s complaint on 3/28/25 for failure to state a claim by wrongly asserting (1) Appellant’s mandamus was for the court to usurp the Board’s absolute discretion on physician discipline and (2) wrongly asserting that Talwar gave the Board absolute discretion in complaint investigations. No. 25AP-356 4

[3.] The trial court erred by dismissing Appellant’s complaint for lack of standing. (1) The trial court erred when it agreed with Appellee and contradicted Appellant’s assertion that the Medical Act requires public right standing which the Ohio Supreme Court had recently denied for all public agencies. (2) The trial court erred and abused its discretion by not addressing Appellant’s assertion of statutory standing. (3) The trial court erred and abused its discretion by dismissing pro se Appellant’s complaint for lack of traditional standing.

(Emphasis in original.) (Sic passim.) III. Analysis {¶ 9} Reigert appeals from the trial court’s grant of the Board’s Civ.R. 12(B)(6) motion to dismiss his complaint for a writ of mandamus ordering the Board to reopen its investigation against Dr. Barcelo. For harmony of analysis, we will address Reigert’s three assignments of error out of order. A. Reigert’s Third Assignment of Error 1. Standing {¶ 10} As a threshold matter, we must first address the issue of standing. Before an Ohio court may consider the merits of a legal claim, the person or entity seeking relief must demonstrate standing to sue. Collins v. State, 2025-Ohio-4347, ¶ 16 (10th Dist.), citing Ohio Pyro, Inc. v. Ohio Dept. of Commerce, 2007-Ohio-5024, ¶ 27.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Reading Recovery Council of N. Am., Inc. v. State
2026 Ohio 1000 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2026)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2025 Ohio 5868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-reigert-v-state-med-bd-of-ohio-ohioctapp-2025.