Opinion

Billington v. Cotner

  • 25 Ohio St. 2d 140
  • 54 Ohio Op. 2d 270
  • 267 N.E.2d 410
  • 1971 Ohio LEXIS 557
Court
Ohio Supreme Court
Filed
Feb 24, 1971
Status
Published
Author
Schneider
On the bench
Corrigan, Duncan, Herbert, Leach, Neill, Schneider, Stern
Cited by
20 cases

Limited on other grounds by State ex rel. City of Bedford v. Board of Elections, 62 Ohio St. 3d 17 (1991)

Later courts went against this

  • Limited on other grounds by State ex rel. City of Bedford v. Board of Elections, 62 Ohio St. 3d 17 (1991)

    25 Ohio St.2d 140, 150 , 267 N.E.2d 410 (1971), limited on other grounds in State ex rel. Bedford v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Elections , 62 Ohio St.3d 17, 22 , 577 N.E.2d 645
    Ohio Supreme CourtSep 25, 1991other groundsmedium confidenceRead it

The opinion

Schneider, J.,

dissenting. The crux of the majority opinion seems to be that the “failure of city council to designate the date of a special election . . . [was] a gross omission, not a trivial one.”

I agree that the omission was not trivial, but I do not agree that it was so gross as to require the result reached by the court.

The omission would have excused the clerk of council from certifying the action of council to the election officials, or the latter from activating the election machinery as to the proposed amendment.

This is not a case of “impeaching” the record of council. No one denies that council never designated the date for the election. Thus, there was no attempt by the lower courts in case No. 70-654 to alter that which council did.

Moreover, no one denies that the will of the city council was to submit the proposed charter amendment to the electorate. The courts below merely gave effect to that will.

Herbert and Corrigan, JJ., concur in the foregoing dissenting opinion.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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