State ex rel. Sands v. Court of Common Pleas (Slip Opinion)

2018 Ohio 4245, 120 N.E.3d 799, 155 Ohio St. 3d 238
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 23, 2018
Docket2017-1700
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2018 Ohio 4245 (State ex rel. Sands v. Court of Common Pleas (Slip Opinion)) 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. Sands v. Court of Common Pleas (Slip Opinion), 2018 Ohio 4245, 120 N.E.3d 799, 155 Ohio St. 3d 238 (Ohio 2018).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

*238 {¶ 1} Appellant, Joseph A. Sands, appeals the decision of the Eleventh District Court of Appeals dismissing his complaint for a writ of mandamus against the Lake County Court of Common Pleas. For the reasons set forth below, we deny Sands's motion for oral argument and affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

Background

{¶ 2} Sands was convicted in the Lake County Common Pleas Court on three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated arson, and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. State v. Sands , 11th Dist. Lake No. 2007-L-003, 2008-Ohio-6981 , 2008 WL 5428252 , ¶ 23. The trial court merged the conspiracy counts and sentenced Sands to two ten-year prison terms, to be served consecutively. The court of appeals affirmed. We denied Sands's motion to file a delayed appeal. 127 Ohio St.3d 1443 , 2010-Ohio-5762 , 937 N.E.2d 1034 .

{¶ 3} On June 19, 2017, Sands commenced the present action for a writ of mandamus against the Lake County Common Pleas Court. The complaint provided a lengthy procedural background and raised a host of objections to his convictions and sentences (discussed below) but requested no specific mandamus relief. On August 11, 2017, Judge Vincent A. Culotta, on behalf of the Lake County Common Pleas Court, filed a motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment.

{¶ 4} On November 13, 2017, the court of appeals granted the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim in mandamus. The court of appeals gave two reasons for dismissing the complaint: first, the complaint did not request any *239 relief and second, mandamus was unavailable because all the issues raised in the complaint could have been raised on direct appeal from the convictions. 2017-Ohio-8532 , 2017 WL 5257078 , ¶ 8-9, 19.

{¶ 5} Sands timely appealed.

The motion for oral argument

{¶ 6} We have discretion whether to grant oral argument in an original action. S.Ct.Prac.R. 17.02. In exercising that discretion, we consider whether the case "involves a matter of great public importance, complex issues of law or fact, a substantial constitutional issue, or a conflict among courts of appeals." State ex rel. BF Goodrich Co., Specialty Chems. Div. v. Indus. Comm. , 148 Ohio St.3d 212 , 2016-Ohio-7988 , 69 N.E.3d 728 , ¶ 23. None of those factors is present in this case. Sands merely asserts that oral argument would *802 help to avoid confusion regarding the relief he is seeking. We deny the request for oral argument.

The merits of the appeal

{¶ 7} To be entitled to a writ of mandamus, a party must establish, by clear and convincing evidence, (1) a clear legal right to the requested relief, (2) a clear legal duty on the part of the respondent to provide it, and (3) the lack of an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law. State ex rel. Love v. O'Donnell , 150 Ohio St.3d 378 , 2017-Ohio-5659 , 81 N.E.3d 1250 , ¶ 3. "In order for a court to dismiss a [mandamus] complaint under Civ.R. 12(B)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, it must appear beyond doubt that [the relator] could prove no set of facts warranting relief, after all factual allegations of the complaint are presumed true, and all reasonable inferences are made in [the relator's] favor." State ex rel. Natl. Elec. Contrs. Assn. v. Bur. of Emp. Servs. , 83 Ohio St.3d 179 , 181, 699 N.E.2d 64 (1998).

{¶ 8} The "unsupported conclusions of a complaint are not considered admitted and are not sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss." State ex rel. Seikbert v. Wilkinson , 69 Ohio St.3d 489 , 490, 633 N.E.2d 1128 (1994). The failure to identify the source of the alleged duty in a mandamus action is grounds for dismissal. State ex rel. Fain v. Summit Cty. Adult Probation Dept. , 71 Ohio St.3d 658 , 659, 646 N.E.2d 1113 (1995) (upholding dismissal of complaint alleging that the county probation department had a clear legal duty to correct information in a presentence-investigation report without identifying the source of the alleged duty). In this case, Sands provided less information than did the Fain complaint: Sands did not even identify the alleged duty he sought to enforce, much less the legal authority creating that duty. The court of appeals correctly dismissed the complaint.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2018 Ohio 4245, 120 N.E.3d 799, 155 Ohio St. 3d 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-sands-v-court-of-common-pleas-slip-opinion-ohio-2018.