Justia Government & Administrative Law Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) and Board of Revision (BOR) to retain the county fiscal officer’s valuation of real property owned by Appellant. The subject property consisted of a single-family dwelling located on a half-acre parcel in the city of Beachwood. For tax year 2013, Appellant filed a complaint seeking to reduce the fiscal officer’s valuation from $1,429,100 to $850,000. The Supreme Court affirmed the BTA’s decision, holding (1) Appellant’s value-related arguments and procedural arguments were unavailing; and (2) Appellant failed to show that the BTA acted unreasonably or unlawfully. View "Jakobovitch v. Cuyahoga County Board of Revision" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) reversing the tax commissioner’s determination finding that certain apartment buildings did not qualify for an exemption under Ohio Rev. Code 5709.87. Appellee, the owner of the property in question, remediated the property and improved it with apartment buildings. The tax commissioner found that the apartment buildings did not qualify for a partial tax exemption under section 5709.87 - the “brownfield exemption” - for having undergone environmental cleanup. The BTA, however, concluded that Appellee was entitled to a tax exemption for the assessed value of the apartment buildings under section 5709.87. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the tax commissioner waived his main argument and one other issue by failing to raise them first before the BTA; and (2) the tax commissioner’s remaining arguments lacked merit. View "Kinnear Road Redevelopment, L.L.C. v. Testa" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) affirming in part and reversing in part a tax assessment issued by the tax commissioner based on a consumer-use-tax audit of certain purchases made by Accel, Inc. The court held that the BTA acted reasonably and lawfully in (1) reversing the imposition of use tax on materials Accel acquired to be used and incorporated into gift sets; (2) reversing the imposition of use tax on certain transactions by which Accel obtained employment services through one of its suppliers; (3) ruling that no portion of the assessment was time-barred under Ohio Rev. Code 5703.58(B); (4) declining to exempt the production of gift sets and employment-services transactions with a different supplier; and (5) admitting into evidence the report and testimony of the opposing parties’ expert witnesses. View "Accel, Inc. v. Testa" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals’ denial of Appellant’s petition for writs of mandamus and prohibition. In his original action for writs of mandamus and prohibition, Appellant alleged, among other things, that the judge who presided over his 1981 jury trial had never pronounced judgment or sentenced him. The court of appeals granted summary judgment for Defendants and denied the requested writs. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) with one possible exception, the claims Appellant was making were barred by res judicata; and (2) summary judgment was proper on the only allegation that Appellant raised in the present case that may not have already been litigated. View "State ex rel. Jackson v. Ambrose" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing the petition of Appellant for a writ of mandamus. In his petition, Appellant argued that he was entitled to be released from custody under the same terms as his original parole because the Ohio Adult Parole Authority (APA) failed to hold a hearing within a reasonable time to determine whether Appellant had violated the terms of his release. The court of appeals granted summary judgment for the APA. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the court of appeals correctly ruled that Appellant’s mandamus claim was barred by res judicata because it arose “from a nucleus of facts that was the subject matter” of previous legal actions; and (2) the motion for declaratory judgment that Appellant filed in this appeal is denied. View "State ex rel. Alford v. Adult Parole Authority" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing Appellant’s petition for a writ of mandamus. Appellant was convicted of murder and sentenced to an indefinite term of a minimum of fifteen years to life, to be served consecutively to the sentence he was then serving on federal charges. Appellant later filed this action against the Bureau of Sentence Computation (BSC) requesting a writ of mandamus to compel BSC to calculate his term served under his state sentence as if the sentence were being served concurrently with, and not consecutively to, the federal sentence. The court of appeals dismissed the action. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Appellant’s arguments on appeal were unavailing. View "State ex rel. Sanford v. Bureau of Sentence Computation" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court denied Petitioner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking an order releasing him on bond and suspending execution of his sentence pending appeal. Petitioner, who was convicted of aggravated possession of drugs, appealed, seeking the reversal of his conviction based on ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court denied Petitioner’s motion for bail pending appeal, and the court of appeals denied a similar motion filed by Petitioner. The Supreme Court held that Petitioner failed to show that the court of appeals abused its discretion in denying Petitioner’s motion for bond pending appeal and thus denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus and denied as moot his motion for an expedited ruling. View "Small v. Hooks" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals granting judgment in favor of Michael Clay in this action seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the release of autopsy records by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office’s (ME) under Ohio Rev. Code 313.10(C)(1). On appeal, the ME argued, among other things, that the court should use the in pari material rule of statutory construction in determining the meaning of section 313.10(C)(1), which governs access to records held by a coroner’s office. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding (1) the in pari material rule of statutory construction and the absurdity exception to the plain-language rule of statutory construction are not applicable to section 313.10(C)(1); and (2) because section 313.10(C)(1) is plain and unambiguous, it is applied as written. View "State ex rel. Clay v. Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing Appellant’s original action seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the Ohio Adult Parole Authority (APA) to conduct a new parole-revocation hearing. The court held that because Appellant failed to comply with the mandatory requirements of section 2969.25(A), the court of appeals correctly dismissed Appellant’s petition. In addition to affirming the dismissal of Appellant’s original action, the court denied the APA’s motion to dismiss Appellant’s appeal, holding that the APA presented no basis for dismissal. View "State ex rel. Robinson v. Adult Parole Authority" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing the petition of Appellant for a writ of habeas corpus. Appellant was granted parole on the condition of “zero tolerance for any positive drug test.” The next month, he tested positive for drug use. After a revocation hearing, Appellant was reincarcerated. Appellant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming violations of his due process, equal protection, and confrontation rights. The court of appeals concluded that habeas corpus was not available to grant the relief Defendant sought. The Supreme Court agreed, holding that Defendant failed to state a proper claim in habeas corpus. View "State ex rel. Womack v. Sloan" on Justia Law