Fischer , J. { 1} In this case, relator, the Cincinnati Enquirer ("the Enquirer"), seeks a writ of mandamus and an award of attorney fees and costs against respondent, the city of Cincinnati, in connection with a request for body-camera footage. For the reasons set forth below, we deny the request for a writ of mandamus but grant an award of attorney fees and court costs. I. Factual and Procedural Background { 2} On August 8, 2017, while on duty and responding to a service call,...
Kennedy , J. { 1} In this discretionary appeal from a judgment of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, we consider whether the enactment of R.C. 9.75, which prohibits a public authority from requiring that contractors on public-improvement projects employ a specific number or percentage of the public authority's residents, is within the power granted to the General Assembly by Article II, Section 34 of the Ohio Constitution. That constitutional provision affords the legislature the...
Fischer , J. { 1} In this case, we consider whether the provisions of R.C. 711.09(C) apply to a city planning commission and whether a home-rule municipality's adoption of regulations establishing procedures for submission and consideration of applications to subdivide property is an exercise of its powers of local self-government. We conclude that R.C. 711.09(C) does apply to city planning commissions and that a home-rule municipality's adoption of subdivision regulations constitutes an...
{ 1} This cause is dismissed as having been improvidently accepted. { 2} The court orders that the opinion of the court of appeals may not be cited as authority except by the parties inter se. O'Connor, C.J., and Fischer, Hensal, Donnelly, and Stewart, JJ., concur. Kennedy and French, JJ., dissent. Jennifer Hensal, J., of the Ninth District Court of Appeals, sitting for DeWine, J.
French , J. { 1} These consolidated appeals ask whether Ohio's construction statute of repose, R.C. 2305.131, applies to actions sounding in contract as well as to actions sounding in tort. We hold that R.C. 2305.131, as enacted in Am.Sub.S.B. No. 80, 150 Ohio Laws, Part V, 7915, 7937-7938, applies to any cause of action, whether sounding in tort or contract, so long as the cause of action meets the requirements of the statute. Facts and Procedural Background { 2} These appeals...
French , J. { 1} This appeal requires us to address once again what constitutes a final, appealable foreclosure decree. Before reaching us, the long, winding path of this foreclosure action included two intermediate-court appeals initiated by appellees, Steven and Karen Sponaugle. { 2} The Sponaugles' first appeal challenged the trial court's entry of a foreclosure decree in favor of appellant, the Farmers State Bank ("Farmers"). The Second District Court of Appeals dismissed that...
Per Curiam . { 1} In this original action, relator, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney Michael C. O'Malley, seeks a writ of prohibition to prevent respondent, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Russo, from exercising jurisdiction over a wrongful-imprisonment claim filed by former death-row inmate Joe D'Ambrosio. O'Malley also seeks a writ of procedendo to compel Judge Russo to enter judgment terminating D'Ambrosio's litigation. Judge Russo has filed a motion for...
{ 1} This cause is dismissed as having been improvidently accepted. { 2} The court orders that the opinion of the court of appeals may not be cited as authority except by the parties inter se. O'Connor, C.J., and Fischer, Donnelly, and Stewart, JJ., concur. French, J., dissents, with an opinion joined by Kennedy and DeWine, JJ. DeWine, J., dissents, with an opinion joined by Kennedy and French, JJ. French, J., dissenting. DeWine , J. , dissenting. { 3} I respectfully dissent...
{ 1} This case is dismissed as having been improvidently accepted. French, Osowik, DeWine, Donnelly, and Stewart, JJ., concur. O'Connor, C.J., and Kennedy, J., dissent. Thomas J. Osowik, J., of the Sixth District Court of Appeals, sitting for Fischer, J.
Kennedy , J . { 1} In this discretionary appeal from a judgment of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, we consider the parameters established by R.C. 4905.61 regarding the parties that have standing to bring a treble-damages action pursuant to that statute. Here, appellee, Intermessage Communications ("Intermessage"), and members of a proposed class of retail cellular-telephone-service subscribers seek to recover treble damages under R.C. 4905.61 for regulatory violations committed in...
Fischer , J. { 1} Appellee, Anthony Apanovitch, was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, and two counts of rape, and in January 1985, he was sentenced to death. The body of the victim, Mary Anne Flynn, was found in a bedroom in her home. She had been strangled and severely beaten, and sperm was found in her mouth and vagina. { 2} On direct appeal, the Eighth District Court of Appeals and this court affirmed Apanovitch's convictions and death sentence. State v....
Per Curiam . { 1} In this original action, relators, Mars Urban Solutions, L.L.C. ("Mars Urban"), and Michael Majeski, 1 seek a writ of mandamus to compel respondents Cuyahoga County fiscal officer and Cuyahoga County Board of Revision ("BOR") to comply with a judgment of the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals ("BTA") that reduced the 2010 value of a property that Majeski owned and later conveyed to Mars Urban. Because 2012 was the first year of a new sexennium—and any dispute that relators had...
Fischer , J. { 1} In this case, we are presented with the issue whether the defense of blackout is an affirmative defense that must be proved by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. We conclude that blackout is an affirmative defense pursuant to R.C. 2901.05(D)(1)(b) and that requiring a defendant to prove this affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence does not violate the defendant's right to due process. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Tenth...
French , J . { 1} Steven Schmitz sustained repetitive concussive and subconcussive brain impacts while playing college football for appellant University of Notre Dame du Lac ("Notre Dame") in the mid-1970s. In December 2012, Schmitz was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy ("CTE"), a degenerative brain disease. By 2014, at age 58, he had been additionally diagnosed with severe memory loss, cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia, all of which he claimed were...
Per Curiam . { 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...
O'Donnell , J. { 1} Melvin Bonnell appeals from the denial of his second application for DNA testing, following his conviction and death sentence for the 1987 murder of Robert Eugene Bunner. He presents two propositions of law for our consideration. We lack jurisdiction to consider the first proposition of law and conclude that Bonnell has failed to show that any of the evidence he sought to have tested could yield a result that would be outcome determinative. Accordingly, we affirm the...
Kennedy , J. , dissenting. { 1} This cause is dismissed as having been improvidently accepted. O'Connor, C.J., and French, Fischer, DeWine, and Miller, JJ., concur. Kennedy, J., dissents, with an opinion joined by Piper, J. Robin N. Piper, J., of the Twelfth District Court of Appeals, sitting for O'Donnell, J. Charles M. Miller, J., of the First District Court of Appeals, sitting for DeGenaro, J. { 2} I respectfully disagree with the decision to dismiss this appeal as having been...
Fischer , J. { 1} When a plaintiff is a "smoker" who alleges that he or she suffers from lung cancer as a result of asbestos exposure, the plaintiff must make a prima facie showing that satisfies the requirements listed in R.C. 2307.92(C)(1), including a "diagnosis by a competent medical authority that the [plaintiff] has primary lung cancer and that exposure to asbestos is a substantial contributing factor to that cancer," R.C. 2307.92(C)(1)(a). A plaintiff who is not a "smoker" need...
Per Curiam . { 1} Respondent, Jonell Rae Glitzenstein, of Akron, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0061889, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1993. { 2} In a formal complaint certified to the Board of Professional Conduct on June 29, 2017, relator, Akron Bar Association, charged Glitzenstein with multiple ethical violations. The alleged violations arose from her failure to properly use and maintain her client trust account, reasonably communicate with a client, protect the...
Per Curiam . { 1} Respondent, Wendy Sue Rosett, of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0055870, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1991. { 2} We suspended Rosett's license to practice law for one week in November 2015 for her failure to register as an attorney for the 2015-2017 biennium. In re Attorney Registration Suspension of Rosett, 143 Ohio St.3d 1509, 2015-Ohio-4567, 39 N.E.3d 1277; In re Reinstatement of Rosett, 144 Ohio St.3d 1432, 2015-Ohio-5363, 42...
