The opinion
[This opinion has been published in Ohio Official Reports at 77 Ohio St.3d 398.]
THE STATE EX REL. BOWMAN ET AL. v. COLUMBIANA COUNTY BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS ET AL.
[Cite as State ex rel. Bowman v. Columbiana Cty. Bd. of Commrs.,
1997-Ohio-265.]
Mandamus to compel Columbiana County Board of Commissioners and county
auditor to order and issue warrants for payment of common pleas court
judgment plus postjudgment interest—Peremptory writ granted, when.
(No. 96-1950—Submitted December 11, 1996—Decided February 5, 1997.)
IN MANDAMUS.
__________________
{¶ 1} In November 1993, respondent, Columbiana County Board of
Commissioners (“board”), instituted appropriation proceedings against relators,
Dean and Mary Ann Bowman and Gary and Kella Haren, in the Columbiana
County Court of Common Pleas. Relators incurred substantial fees and expenses
to defend the board’s appropriation proceedings. In the summer of 1994, the board,
without ever having been granted the right to possession of relators’ property,
abandoned its appropriation proceedings against relators. Pursuant to R.C. 163.21,
relators then petitioned the common pleas court for their fees and expenses incurred
as a result of the abandoned appropriation proceedings.
{¶ 2} In December 1994, the common pleas court entered judgment in favor
of relators against the board in the amount of $43,235.26. Instead of paying the
judgment, the board appealed. In December 1995, the Court of Appeals for
Columbiana County affirmed the judgment as to the award of $43,235.26 in fees
and expenses. The board did not institute a further appeal.
{¶ 3} Despite numerous demands made by relators for the board to pay the
$43,235.26 judgment together with postjudgment interest, the board refused to pay.
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
In June 1996, relators demanded that respondent, Columbiana County Auditor
Patricia Hadley, issue warrants for payment of the judgment plus postjudgment
interest. Hadley refused to issue the requested warrants.
{¶ 4} Relators subsequently commenced this action for a writ of mandamus
to compel the board and Hadley to order and issue warrants for payment of the
December 1994 common pleas court judgment in the amount of $43,235.46 plus
postjudgment interest from the date of the judgment. Respondents have filed a
motion to dismiss.
{¶ 5} The cause is now before this court for a determination under
S.Ct.Prac.R. X(5).
____________________
Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, Mark S. Stemm and Douglas L. Anderson,
for relators.
Daniel J. Solmen, Columbiana County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for
respondents.
____________________
Per Curiam.
{¶ 6} S.Ct.Prac.R. X(5) provides that in original actions other than habeas
corpus filed in this court that “[a]fter the time for filing an answer to the complaint
or a motion to dismiss, the Supreme Court will either dismiss the case or issue an
alternative or peremptory writ, if a writ has not already been issued.”
{¶ 7} Respondents seek dismissal of relators’ complaint for a writ of
mandamus pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(6). Dismissal of a complaint for failure to
state a claim upon which relief can be granted is appropriate if, after all factual
allegations of the complaint are presumed true and all reasonable inferences are
made in relators’ favor, it appears beyond doubt that relators can prove no set of
facts warranting relief. State ex rel. Seikbert v. Wilkinson (1994), 69 Ohio St.3d
489, 490, 633 N.E.2d 1128, 1129.
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January Term, 1997
{¶ 8} Respondents contend that relators’ mandamus action should be
dismissed because they are not required to pay postjudgment interest. Respondents
rely on Gates Mills v. Jones (1994), 95 Ohio App.3d 341, 642 N.E.2d 444, claiming
that Gates Mills held that a person who recovers a judgment under R.C. 163.21 is
not entitled to interest on the judgment under R.C. 1343.03. Respondents have
misconstrued the Gates Mills holding. Gates Mills merely held that an
appropriation award is not “due and payable” for purposes of an award of
postjudgment interest under R.C. 1343.03 until either possession of property is
transferred or ninety days pass from the date of the appropriation determination.
Gates Mills was limited to a determination of the propriety of an award of interest
on an appropriation judgment prior to the expiration of the statutory period set forth
in R.C. 163.21(A)(1)1 for an agency to abandon appropriation proceedings.
{¶ 9} In contrast to Gates Mills, this case involves postjudgment interest on
a judgment under R.C. 163.21(A)(2) for fees and expenses to affected landowners
where appropriation proceedings against them have been abandoned. R.C.
1343.03(A) provides that “[i]n cases other than those provided in sections 1343.01
and 1343.02 of the Revised Code, when money becomes due and payable * * *
upon all judgments, decrees, and orders of any judicial tribunal for the payment of
money arising out of tortious conduct or a contract or other transaction, the
creditor is entitled to interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum * * *.”
(Emphasis added.)
{¶ 10} There is no evidence or assertion that the R.C. 163.21(A)(2)
judgment in favor of relators arose out of either “tortious conduct” or a “contract.”
Therefore, in order to be entitled to postjudgment interest under R.C. 1343.03(A),
the judgment must have arisen from an “other transaction.” The phrase “other
transaction” is not defined by statute and neither relators nor respondents have
presented argument or authority as to its meaning. Undefined words used in a
statute must be accorded their usual, normal, or customary meaning. State ex rel.
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SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
Hawkins v. Pickaway Cty. Bd. of Elections (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 275, 277, 662
N.E.2d 17, 19; R.C. 1.42. A “transaction” is “[a]n act, agreement, or several acts
or agreements between or among parties whereby a cause of action or alteration of
legal rights occur[s].” Black’s Law Dictionary (6 Ed.1990) 1496; see State v.
Penrod (1992), 81 Ohio App.3d 654, 660, 611 N.E.2d 996, 1000.
{¶ 11} In this case, several acts have occurred between the parties.
Respondents initiated appropriation proceedings against relators and subsequently
abandoned the proceedings. These acts created a cause of action under R.C.
163.21(A)(2) for relators to request fees and expenses they incurred in the
appropriation proceedings. Therefore, the December 1994 judgment for
$43,235.26 in fees and expenses constituted a judgment for money arising out of
an “other transaction.” It was an in personam judgment against the board for which
relators were entitled to postjudgment interest pursuant to R.C. 1343.03(A). Cf.
Penrod, 81 Ohio App.3d at 660-661, 611 N.E.2d at 1000 (“[W]e hold that a
judgment arising from an ‘other transaction’ within the meaning of R.C.
1343.03(A) refers to a judgment in personam. Given that a judgment arising from
a forfeiture proceeding will be in rem * * * that statute does not entitle appellant to
postjudgment interest on our previous order to return the seized property.”);
Cincinnati v. Smallwood (1958), 106 Ohio App. 496, 500, 7 O.O.2d 226, 228, 150
N.E.2d 310, 313 (“As we construe [former R.C. 1309.03, the statutory predecessor
to R.C. 1343.03], it applies only to orders of court creating the relation of judgment
debtor and judgment creditor. To satisfy the definition so that interest will run, the
order must be definite, so that it could be enforced by execution. The court’s order
in an appropriation proceeding makes no such direction.”). Unlike Penrod or
Smallwood, the December 1994 judgment against the board for fees and expenses
was definite and was not an in rem judgment against specific property.
{¶ 12} Based on the foregoing, relators are entitled to postjudgment interest
at the rate of ten percent per year on the December 1994 common pleas court
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January Term, 1997
judgment. No further evidence or argument is necessary for the resolution of this
legal issue, since the pertinent facts are uncontroverted. See, e.g., State ex rel. Smith
v. Frost (1995), 74 Ohio St.3d 107, 112, 656 N.E.2d 673, 678; State ex rel. Findlay
Publishing Co. v. Schroeder (1996), 76 Ohio St.3d 580, 583, 669 N.E.2d 835, 839.
Therefore, we grant a peremptory writ of mandamus compelling respondents to
order and issue warrants for payment to relators of the principal amount of the
December 1994 judgment plus postjudgment interest under R.C. 1343.03(A).
Writ granted.
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, COOK and
LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur.
1. R.C. 163.21(A)(1) provides that “[i]f it has not taken possession of property that is appropriated,
an agency may abandon appropriation proceedings under sections 163.01 to 163.22 of the Revised
Code at any time after the proceedings are commenced but not later than ninety days after the final
determination of the cause.”
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