Opinion

Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision (Slip Opinion)

  • 144 Ohio St. 3d 128
  • 2015 Ohio 4304
Court
Ohio Supreme Court
Filed
Oct 20, 2015
Status
Published
On the bench
O'Connor, Pfeifer, O'Donnell, Lanzinger, Kennedy, O'Neill, French
Cited by
5 cases
Authority
More cited than 58.0%

The opinion

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as

Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision, Slip Opinion No. 2015-

Ohio-4304.]

NOTICE

This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an

advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested to

promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65

South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other

formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before

the opinion is published.

SLIP OPINION NO. 2015-OHIO-4304

COLUMBUS CITY SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION, APPELLEE, v. FRANKLIN

COUNTY BOARD OF REVISION ET AL., APPELLEES; PLATINUM LODGING, L.L.C.,

APPELLANT.

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it

may be cited as Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of

Revision, Slip Opinion No. 2015-Ohio-4304.]

Taxation—Real-property valuation—When enforcing the statutory requirements

for perfecting tax appeals, we avoid being hypertechnical—R.C. 5717.05’s

“first-filed rule” trumps the “subsequent-appeal rule”—Board of revision

was bound by the decision of the common pleas court—Board of tax

appeals’ decision reversed, and cause remanded to the board of revision.

(No. 2013-0514—Submitted July 7, 2015—Decided October 20, 2015.)

APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals, Nos. 2012-A-2823 and 2012-A-3289.

____________________

SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} This appeal concerns a real-property-valuation complaint pertaining

to tax year 2008 that was originally filed by Platinum Lodging, L.L.C.’s court-

appointed receiver on March 31, 2009. Appellant, Platinum Lodging, is the former

owner of the property at issue and was a party throughout the proceedings below.

The Franklin County Board of Revision (“BOR”) substantially reduced the

valuation, but Platinum Lodging and the current property owners filed an appeal in

the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, which remanded the cause to the

BOR. On remand, the BOR dismissed the complaint on the grounds that the

complainant lacked standing. Thereafter, appellee Columbus City Schools Board

of Education (“school board”) and then Platinum Lodging perfected appeals from

the BOR’s dismissal order to the Board of Tax Appeals (“BTA”).

{¶ 2} The BTA dismissed the appeals on the grounds that because the first

appeal had been filed in the common pleas court, the BTA lacked jurisdiction to

entertain an appeal from the BOR’s dismissal order on remand. Platinum Lodging

has appealed, and we now reverse the BTA’s order of dismissal as to Platinum

Lodging.1 We also remand this matter to the BOR with instructions that it

determine the value of the property in accordance with the earlier remand order

issued by the common pleas court.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

{¶ 3} The March 31, 2009 complaint that initiated these proceedings

proposed a true value of $8,000,000 for tax year 2008 instead of the auditor’s

valuation of $24,500,000. The complaint identified Platinum Lodging as the owner

and “ARM (Receiver)”2 as the “complainant if not owner.” The complaint states

1

Because the school board did not appeal its dismissal to this court, we leave the BTA’s dismissal

order in place with respect to the school board’s appeal.

2

“ARM” stands for American Resort Management, which was appointed receiver for Platinum

Lodging when Wells Fargo sought foreclosure in 2008.

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that the complainant’s relationship to the property was “Court Appointed

Receiver.” On May 27, 2009, a countercomplaint was filed by the school board.

The countercomplaint sought retention of the auditor’s valuation for tax year 2008.

{¶ 4} The complaint identified the complainant’s agent to be attorney

Clarence Mingo, and Mingo’s verified signature is on the complaint. Mingo was

subsequently named auditor of Franklin County later that same year, 2009.

{¶ 5} The property at issue is a 16.592-acre site improved with a high-rise

hotel and a water park. It is located southeast of the point where I-70 intersects

Hamilton Road in eastern Franklin County. The auditor allocated $1,991,000 to

land value and $22,509,000 to the buildings.

{¶ 6} The BOR held a hearing on September 20, 2010. At that hearing, a

case for decrease of value was presented by attorney Charles Bluestone, who

identified himself as “substituting in this case on behalf of Clarence Mingo who

was the attorney representing the property owner who owned the property as of

January 1st, 2008 [i.e., Platinum Lodging], which is the first past year at issue in

this case.” Bluestone advised that he was also appearing on behalf of Brownlee

Reagan and Jamal Lewis who were the property owners at the time of the hearing.

{¶ 7} Platinum Lodging presented the testimony of three witnesses: Lance

Lehr, a vice president of ARM, the receiver; (2) Jamal Lewis, one of the new

owners who had recently purchased the property, and (3) Charlotte Kang, an

appraiser. When Platinum Lodging purchased the property, it was improved with

only the hotel. Platinum Lodging added additional rooms and the water park, which

was completed by 2006. But financial expectations were not met, and investors

brought in ARM to manage the property beginning in August 2007. The property

was put into receivership in March 2008, with ARM as receiver to manage the

property and an entity called HREC to attempt to sell it for the benefit of the

creditors. Over a two-year period, the property was marketed, and it was finally

sold to the entity of which Jamal Lewis was a principal, in July 2010, shortly before

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the BOR hearing. According to testimony regarding the conveyance-fee statement,

the 2010 purchase price was $5,510,518.

{¶ 8} Platinum Lodging additionally presented an appraisal report, which

Kang explained in her testimony. Relying on the income and sales-comparison

approaches, she opined that the value of the property for 2010 was $6,800,000.

{¶ 9} Also at the BOR hearing, the auditor’s delegate indicated that because

Clarence Mingo had been counsel for the property owner and later was named

auditor, the delegate would “abstain from the vote but remain on the panel for

administrative purposes.” On October 22, 2010, the delegates constituting the BOR

met and determined the value of the property based on the evidence presented. The

auditor’s delegate took the lead, proposing a new value of $5,510,500 for 2008, to

be carried forward according to law.

{¶ 10} Despite his statement at the hearing that he would not vote, the

auditor’s delegate both proposed the new valuation and voted for it. The BOR

decision adopting the new value was issued on November 3, 2010.

{¶ 11} Dissatisfied, Platinum Lodging and the new owners appealed to the

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas pursuant to R.C. 5717.05.3 Two events

of importance occurred at the common pleas court. First, the common pleas court

considered a motion filed by the school board that argued that the complaint had

been invalid because the receiver lacked written authority to file the complaint at

the time it was filed. Platinum Lodging responded with evidence of authorization

to file, and the common pleas court denied the motion on March 8, 2011, finding

that the school board’s arguments lacked merit.

3

Separately, the school board prosecuted its own appeal from the reduction order to the BTA, but

the BTA dismissed that appeal on the grounds that the owners had filed first in the common pleas

court. See Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision, BTA No. 2010-M-

3420, 2011 WL 857880 (Mar. 4, 2011).

4

January Term, 2015

{¶ 12} Specifically, the common pleas court stated that it disagreed with the

contention that the receiver, ARM, which had been appointed after foreclosure

proceedings were initiated, lacked written authority as required by the receivership

order, and therefore had no standing to file the BOR complaint. The common pleas

court set forth the following grounds for its decision:

 An e-mail and affidavit from the asset manager of the property at the

bank indicated that she had given authority to file, first orally and then

by e-mail, and the receivership order states that “written consent” of the

bank was required, without specifying the form or timing of that

consent;

 The bank itself, Wells Fargo, had made no objection to the filing;

 The school board, as a nonparty to the receivership case, was “in no

position to dictate what approval is sufficient under the receivership

order”;

 The school board waived the standing argument by not asserting it at

the BOR.

The common pleas court specifically held that “approval is sufficient under the

receivership order. ARM acted with the written consent of Wells-Fargo, through

its agent, and therefore had standing to file the BOR Complaint.”

{¶ 13} The second important event before the common pleas court was its

decision granting a motion to remand filed by the BOR and the auditor based on

the auditor’s delegate having failed to actually recuse himself from the vote. The

remand order was entered on April 6, 2012:

The Court finds the Franklin County Auditor and Franklin

County Board of Revision’s Motion to Remand to have merit and

hereby GRANTS the same. It is undisputed that, when this matter

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was at the Board of Revision level, the Auditor’s representative on

the board recognized a conflict of interest and indicated that he

would abstain from voting. It is also undisputed that, despite the

above, the Auditor’s representative nonetheless did vote on the

matter. Given the above, the Court finds that remanding this matter

to the Board of Revision is appropriate in order to resolve the

conflict of interest recognized by the Auditor’s representative.

Given the above, the Court hereby REMANDS this matter

to the Franklin County Board of Revision. It is so ORDERED.

(Capitalization sic.)

{¶ 14} The record concerning the proceedings on remand is sparse, but it

does show an August 24, 2012 order dismissing the complaint for the receiver’s

alleged lack of standing—the very issue previously determined to the contrary by

the common pleas court.

{¶ 15} The school board prosecuted an appeal from the dismissal order to

the BTA on August 27, 2012, and Platinum Lodging, L.L.C., filed its appeal with

the BTA on September 20, 2012. The BTA consolidated the appeals and ordered

the parties to brief whether the BOR’s dismissal order should be affirmed. The

parties did so. Subsequently, on February 27, 2013, the BTA issued its decision

sua sponte dismissing the appeals on the grounds that the earlier appeal had been

prosecuted to the common pleas court.

{¶ 16} Platinum Lodging has appealed.

MOTION TO DISMISS

{¶ 17} We first address, as a threshold issue, the school board’s motion to

dismiss Platinum Lodging’s appeal to this court. The school board contends that

the appeal failed to vest jurisdiction in this court because Platinum Lodging failed

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January Term, 2015

to serve the subsequent owners as appellees, as required by the seventh paragraph

of R.C. 5717.04.

{¶ 18} The school board relies on Columbus City School Dist. Bd. of Edn.

v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision, 114 Ohio St.3d 1224, 2007-Ohio-4007, 871 N.E.2d

602 (“Maple Canyon,” after the taxpayer), to support this contention. And Maple

Canyon relied on the reasoning of Olympic Steel, Inc. v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of

Revision, 110 Ohio St.3d 1242, 2006-Ohio-4091, 852 N.E.2d 178. These cases

held that the service requirement in the seventh paragraph4 of R.C. 5717.04 is

mandatory and jurisdictional and that failure to comply requires dismissal of the

appeal. We will refer to this holding as “the Maple Canyon rule.”

{¶ 19} The seventh paragraph of R.C. 5717.04 requires that service be

effected on all those persons to whom the BTA is required to send its decision under

R.C. 5717.03. R.C. 5717.03(B) requires the BTA to send a copy of its decision to

“the person in whose name the property is listed, or sought to be listed,” i.e., the

owner, if that person is not a party to the BTA appeal.

{¶ 20} Here, Platinum Lodging is a former owner of the property and the

new owners are indicated on the record at the BTA. Thus, the BTA had a duty to

send its decision to the new owners and Platinum Lodging had to serve the new

owners as appellees in order to proceed with the appeal under the general rule. The

school board’s motion to dismiss states an entirely valid point, and Platinum

Lodging did not respond to the school board’s motion. Nor does the certificate of

service reflect service on the new owners. We must therefore assume that Platinum

Lodging did not in fact effect timely service on the subsequent owners.

{¶ 21} When enforcing the statutory requirements for perfecting tax

appeals, we avoid being “hypertechnical” and refrain from “deny[ing] the right of

4

R.C. 5717.04 was amended in 2013 and a new first paragraph was added. Thus, what Maple

Canyon and Olympic Steel refer to as the sixth paragraph of R.C. 5717.04 is now the seventh

paragraph. 2013 Sub.H.B. No. 138.

7

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appeal on captious grounds.” Queen City Valves, Inc. v Peck, 161 Ohio St. 579,

583-584, 120 N.E.2d 310 (1954). Accord Buckeye Internatl., Inc. v. Limbach, 64

Ohio St.3d 264, 268, 595 N.E.2d 347 (1992) (“we are not disposed to deny review

by a hypertechnical reading of the notice”). Our review of the record before the

BTA reveals a factor not present in Maple Canyon: counsel for Platinum Lodging

also appeared on behalf of the subsequent owners in these proceedings. Indeed, not

only did Bluestone appear on behalf of the former and the new owners at the BOR

hearing; Bluestone also pursued the initial appeal to the court of common pleas on

behalf of both the old and the new owners.

{¶ 22} Ohio courts have held that when two parties in a case are represented

by the same counsel, one party’s having received notice or knowledge in the case

imputes constructive notice or knowledge to the other. See Krieger v. Cleveland

Indians Baseball Co., 176 Ohio App.3d 410, 2008-Ohio-2183, 892 N.E.2d 461,

¶ 43 (8th Dist.) (because the same lawyer from the city’s law department

represented the original defendant named in the lawsuit [the police department] and

the later substituted proper defendant [the city of Cleveland], the city was on notice

of the suit within the statute of limitations even though it was not named until later),

rev’d on other grounds, Oliver v. Cleveland Indians Baseball Co. Ltd. Partnership,

123 Ohio St.3d 278, 2009-Ohio-5030, 915 N.E.2d 1205; Bainter v. P.P.G.

Industries, Inc., 4th Dist. Pickaway No. 80 CA 11, 1981 WL 5920 (May 7, 1981),

*2 (fact that same attorney represented the original defendant named in the lawsuit

and the substituted defendant meant that the substituted defendant was on notice of

the suit before the statute of limitations ran); State Dept. of Pub. Safety v. Freedom

Concepts, Inc., 10th Dist. Franklin No. 02AP-1289, 2003-Ohio-3748, ¶ 20 (in

forfeiture action, Department of Public Safety should have known the identity of

the actual owners of seized devices because that information was germane and

available in another lawsuit involving the department and the same devices and the

8

January Term, 2015

department was represented in that case by the same assistant attorney general as

in the forfeiture case).

{¶ 23} We conclude that the principle of these cases extends to the present

situation. Here, counsel for the appellant, Platinum Lodging, has also been serving

throughout this litigation as counsel for the subsequent owners, with the result that

the notice of Platinum Lodging’s appeal may be imputed to those subsequent

owners under the doctrine of constructive notice.

{¶ 24} Under these circumstances, we hold that the actual formality of

serving the new owners with the notice of appeal, though required by the statute,

does not run to the core of procedural efficiency, with the result that the defect does

not divest us of jurisdiction over this appeal. The motion to dismiss is therefore

denied.

R.C. 5717.05’S “FIRST-FILED RULE” TRUMPS THE “SUBSEQUENT-APPEAL RULE”

{¶ 25} We will now review the BTA’s ruling dismissing Platinum

Lodging’s appeal. Relying on the reasoning of Columbus Bd. of Edn. v. Franklin

Cty. Bd. of Revision, 70 Ohio St.3d 344, 639 N.E.2d 25 (1994), the BTA noted that

pursuant to R.C. 5717.01 and 5717.05, “in the context of appeals from decisions of

county boards of revision, county courts of common pleas and [the BTA] have

concurrent jurisdiction.” BTA Nos. 2012-A-2823 and 2012-A-3289, 2013 WL

906961, *2 (Feb. 27, 2013). The BTA held that “in order to avoid potentially

conflicting determinations involving the same matter, once either a common pleas

court or [the BTA] has exercised jurisdiction over a matter, the other cannot

interfere with that tribunal’s authority.” Id. On that basis, the BTA dismissed both

the school board’s appeal and the property owner’s appeal.

{¶ 26} In Columbus Bd. of Edn., we relied in part on what might be called

a “subsequent-appeal rule”: when a statute provides two avenues of appeal from

an administrative decision and an appeal is first prosecuted to one of the two

alternative tribunals, a later appeal from an administrative decision issued after

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remand must be prosecuted to the same tribunal that exercised jurisdiction over the

first appeal. In Columbus Bd. of Edn., the first appeal had been prosecuted by the

property owner and the board of revision from a decision of the BTA to the Franklin

County Court of Appeals, which made a ruling and remanded to the BTA. After

the BTA issued its order on remand, the board of education appealed directly to this

court.

{¶ 27} Noting that “a twist” in the case was that R.C. 5717.04 created two

avenues of appeal, one to the court of appeals and one directly to the Supreme

Court, we invoked the specific language of R.C. 5717.04 along with the general

“first-filed rule,” under which the first of two courts of concurrent jurisdiction to

take jurisdiction exercises it to the exclusion of the other tribunal. 70 Ohio St.3d at

345-346, 639 N.E.2d 25. We concluded that the BTA’s order on remand “could

not be appealed to this court.” Id. at 346.

{¶ 28} As the BTA noted, it is evident that both the school board and

Platinum Lodging acted in a manner contrary to the subsequent-appeal rule in this

case. But a reading of R.C. 5717.05 makes it equally clear that the subsequent-

appeal rule did not apply to either appellant under these circumstances. Unlike R.C.

5717.04, which was at issue in Columbus Bd. of Edn., R.C. 5717.05 gives an owner

two options for appeal but gives a board of education only one option. It follows

that the subsequent-appeal rule, however salutary within its proper scope of

application, cannot be applied here, because it would deprive the school board of

the statutory right of appeal to the BTA that it would otherwise enjoy under R.C.

5717.01.

{¶ 29} The subsequent-appeal rule is not mandated by statute, but is a

judge-made rule that is a logical extension of the first-filed rule. We cannot permit

a judge-made rule limiting subsequent appeals to interfere with a right of appeal

that is conferred by statute.

10

January Term, 2015

{¶ 30} Moreover, once the school board had appealed the BOR’s dismissal

order to the BTA, R.C. 5717.05 left Platinum Lodging with no alternative but to

pursue its own appeal to the BTA rather than to the common pleas court.5 Namely,

R.C. 5717.05 states a “first-filed rule” in no uncertain terms as follows:

When the appeal has been perfected by the filing of notice

of appeal as required by this section, and an appeal from the same

decision of the county board of revision is filed under section

5717.01 of the Revised Code with the board of tax appeals, the

forum in which the first notice of appeal is filed shall have exclusive

jurisdiction over the appeal.

Because the school board filed an appeal of the second BOR decision with the BTA,

the BTA possessed sole jurisdiction over appeals from the second BOR decision.

{¶ 31} Moreover, the BTA’s dismissal cannot be justified as an application

of the first-filed rule of R.C. 5717.05. When the common pleas court remanded the

case to the BOR, it retained no jurisdiction. As a result, the parties, to use Platinum

Lodging’s phrase, “returned to the starting blocks” as far as litigating before the

BOR—with the proviso that the proceedings had to be conducted consistently with

the orders issued by the common pleas court during the pendency of the first appeal.

When an appellate court remands a case without retaining jurisdiction, it

5

Because the effect of the BOR’s dismissal was to restore the $24,500,000 valuation by the auditor,

it is difficult to see how the school board was aggrieved by the order that it appealed to the BTA.

But the question of the school board’s standing as an aggrieved party before the BTA, if contested,

would probably be held irrelevant to the propriety of Platinum Lodging’s having filed its appeal at

the BTA, because R.C. 5717.05 ties the exclusivity of forum to the filing, not to the proper exercise

of jurisdiction by the first-filed forum. See Elkem Metals Co. Ltd. Partnership v. Washington Cty.

Bd. of Revision, 81 Ohio St.3d 683, 687-688, 693 N.E.2d 276 (1998) (when taxpayer filed a

complaint for one year of a triennial period, its complaint for another year of the same triennium

had to be dismissed because the taxpayer “filed” the earlier complaint under R.C. 5715.19(A)(2)

despite the fact that that earlier complaint was dismissed on account of a jurisdictional defect).

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relinquishes jurisdiction over the case, and that is true whether the case is remanded

to carry into execution a straightforward mandate or to conduct further proceedings

leading to new findings and conclusions. See Roberts v. Montgomery, 117 Ohio St.

400, 159 N.E. 475 (1927) (“when this court remands a cause for execution it

relinquishes its jurisdiction in that respect to the court of remand, and thus

confusion of jurisdiction and duplication of effort is obviated”).

{¶ 32} It follows that Platinum Lodging acted properly in filing its own

notice of appeal at the BTA instead of in the common pleas court. The BTA’s

decision to dismiss that appeal must therefore be reversed.

UNDER THE LAW-OF-THE-CASE DOCTRINE, THE COMMON PLEAS COURT’S

RULING ON STANDING BARRED THE BOR’S DISMISSAL ORDER

{¶ 33} Platinum Lodging seeks reversal of the BTA’s dismissal of its

appeal, and we grant that relief. With regard to the merits of its appeal to the BTA,

it advances no proposition of law before this court. We would therefore be justified

in remanding the cause to the BTA for further proceedings.

{¶ 34} But the issue on appeal at the BTA was whether the BOR properly

dismissed the complaint for lack of standing when the common pleas court had

already ruled that there was standing. Because that question involves a

jurisdictional issue, we have authority to address it, and we do so in the interest of

efficiency and for the purpose of vindicating the authority of the common pleas

court as a reviewing court. See Crown Communication, Inc. v. Testa, 136 Ohio

St.3d 209, 2013-Ohio-3126, 992 N.E.2d 1135, ¶ 27 (failure of appellant to articulate

argument did not bar the court from determining the issue, since the issue related

to the jurisdiction of the tax tribunals and hence derivatively to the court’s own

eventual jurisdiction of a tax issue on its merits), and cases cited therein.

{¶ 35} It is true that Platinum Lodging conceded at oral argument that the

law of the case did not bind the BOR, but counsel’s concession does not change the

fact that the BOR lacked the authority to dismiss the case for lack of standing after

12

January Term, 2015

the common pleas court ruled that there was standing. Nor does it matter that the

common pleas court allegedly declined counsel’s invitation to explicitly make its

ruling the law of the case: the law-of-the-case doctrine applies without the need for

any explicit invocation.

{¶ 36} Beyond that, it is prudent and proper for us to invoke the law-of-the-

case doctrine under these circumstances. In HealthSouth Corp. v. Testa, 132 Ohio

St.3d 55, 2012-Ohio-1871, 969 N.E.2d 232, we held that an argument raised by the

tax commissioner was barred by the law-of-the-case doctrine, even though the

taxpayer did not assert the defense:

We are justified in raising the doctrine sua sponte because

we have held that the law-of-the-case doctrine reflects a strong

public policy to “ ‘ensure consistency of results in a case, to avoid

endless litigation by settling the issues, and to preserve the structure

of superior and inferior courts.’ ” Brothers v. Morrone-O’Keefe

Dev. Co., 10th Dist. No. 06AP-713, 2007-Ohio-1942, 2007 WL

1196578, ¶ 35, quoting Hubbard ex rel. Creed v. Sauline, 74 Ohio

St.3d 402, 404, 659 N.E.2d 781 (1996).

Id. at ¶ 31, fn. 2. The circumstances of this case are particularly disturbing with

respect to the BOR’s disregard of its duty to abide by the orders issued by a

reviewing court.

{¶ 37} That the law-of-the-case doctrine dispositively applies, there can be

no doubt. “Absent extraordinary circumstances, such as an intervening decision by

the Supreme Court, an inferior court has no discretion to disregard the mandate of

a superior court in a prior appeal in the same case.” Nolan v. Nolan, 11 Ohio St.3d

1, 462 N.E.2d 410 (1984), syllabus. See State ex rel. Potain v. Mathews, 59 Ohio

St.2d 29, 32, 391 N.E.2d 343 (1979) (“The Constitution does not grant to a court

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of common pleas jurisdiction to review a prior mandate of a court of appeals”);

State ex rel. Cordray v. Marshall, 123 Ohio St.3d 229, 2009-Ohio-4986, 915

N.E.2d 633 (affirming grant of prohibition against trial judge’s action that

contradicted rulings of the appeals court during an earlier appeal in the same case);

State ex rel. Crandall, Pheils & Wisniewski v. DeCessna, 73 Ohio St.3d 180, 652

N.E.2d 742 (1995) (granting writs of prohibition and procedendo ordering trial

judge to conduct proceedings consistent with remand order and not act contrary to

it).

{¶ 38} Here, the law of the case at issue is the common pleas court’s

decision on whether the complainant had standing and, consequently, whether the

BOR had jurisdiction. As the “inferior court,” the BOR was bound by the standing

decision of the common pleas court, and it lacked authority to act contrary to it. To

find an example of an entity’s limited authority on remand in the administrative-

appeal context, we need look no further than Columbus Bd. of Edn., 70 Ohio St.3d

344, 639 N.E.2d 25. In that case, our primary ground for dismissing the appeal was

that the BTA had correctly carried into execution the mandate of the court of

appeals issued in the earlier appeal. Id. at 345. This court cited and relied on Potain

in so holding.

{¶ 39} For the above reasons, we exercise our plenary authority over issues

concerning the jurisdiction of the tax tribunals to reverse the BOR’s dismissal order,

and we remand the cause to the BOR with instructions that it determine the value

of the property in accordance with the common pleas court’s remand order.

CONCLUSION

{¶ 40} We reverse the decision of the BTA, and we remand the cause to the

BOR with the instruction that it vacate its previous dismissal order and proceed to

determine the value of the property in accordance with the common pleas court’s

order.

Judgment accordingly.

14

January Term, 2015

O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, KENNEDY, and

O’NEILL, JJ., concur.

FRENCH, J., concurs in judgment only.

_________________

Rich & Gillis Law Group, L.L.C., and Mark H. Gillis, for appellee

Columbus City Schools Board of Education.

Bluestone Law Group, L.L.C., and Charles L. Bluestone, for appellant.

_________________

15

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