Opinion

Specialty Restaurants Corp. v. Cuyahoga County Board of Revision

  • 96 Ohio St. 3d 170
Court
Ohio Supreme Court
Filed
Aug 21, 2002
Status
Published
Author
Stratton
On the bench
Cook, Douglas, Moyer, Pfeifer, Resnick, Stratton, Sweeney
Cited by
2 cases

The opinion

Lundberg Stratton, J.,

dissenting.

{¶ 13} I dissent from the majority’s opinion. I do not believe that the legislature intended R.C. 5715.19(A)(2) to apply to withdrawn complaints that were never acted upon. The intent of R.C. 5715.19(A)(2) was to prohibit successive challenges to evaluations. When a complaint against the valuation of real property is withdrawn before -any other action is taken, it is analogous to a complaint in a trial court that is voluntarily dismissed before service is perfected. Pursuant to Civ.R. 3(A), an action is not even commenced until service is perfected. No opposing party is harmed or even inconvenienced in either situation.

{¶ 14} I would follow the court of appeals’ reasoning in Gen. Elec. Co. v. Hamilton Cty. Bd. of Revision (Apr. 9, 1999), Hamilton App. No. C-971012, 1999 WL 193346 , which reversed a similar dismissal and allowed the refiled action to proceed. Applying that reasoning, I would reverse this case and allow the refiled *173 action to proceed. We should interpret ambiguous statutes to allow access to the legal system, not impose technical roadblocks.

Fred Siegel Co., L.P.A., and Annrita S. Johnson, for appellants.

Britton, McGown, Smith, Peters, Kalail Co., L.P.A., Karrie M. Kalail, David H. Seed and David A. Rose, for appellee Cleveland Municipal School District Board of Education.

{¶ 15} Therefore, I respectfully dissent.

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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