Cleveland v. Ruple
| Decision Date | 26 February 1936 |
| Docket Number | 25486 |
| Citation | 200 N.E. 507,130 Ohio St. 465 |
| Parties | City Of Cleveland Et Al. v. Ruple. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Municipal corporations - Local self-government and public utilities - Engaging in purely private, competitive business, not conferred - Power to tax limited to public purposes - Municipal exhibition hall cannot be operated as private garage, when - Exhibition hall may be used for public and incidental purposes - Parking and storage by municipal officers and employees, permissible - Municipal motor vehicles may be parked, stored or serviced.
1. The Constitution of Ohio gives to municipalities the right of local self-government, local police power, and the authority to acquire, construct, own, lease and operate any public utility; but neither the Constitution nor the statutes contain language which can be construed as an attempt to confer upon a municipality the privilege of engaging in purely private, competitive business.
2. The right of private property, guaranteed by the state and federal Constitutions, is subject to the governmental power of taxation; but the power to tax can be exercised only to raise money for a purpose public in nature.
3. A public underground exhibition hall, constructed with public funds for holding public exhibitions or to provide space for storage, garage or other public purposes and for all uses incidental thereto, may not lawfully be used by the municipality in carrying on a purely private garage business in competition with other private garage businesses in the vicinity, such use being an undue interference with the constitutional right of private property.
4. Such a public underground exhibition hall may be used by the municipality for all public purposes and all purposes incidental thereto, including the right to afford to patrons of adjacent municipal buildings, to wit, a public stadium and a public hall, parking and storing privileges, and a reasonable charge therefor amy be made.
5. The municipality has the right to permit its officers and employees to use such underground exhibition hall for parking and storing their automobiles, while performing their duties as officers or employees, on such reasonable terms as the municipality may impose.
6. The municipality may lawfully use such underground exhibition hall for parking storing and servicing its own automobiles trucks, busses, and other vehicles, such use being public in kind.
From June, 1933, when the underground exhibition hall was opened until January, 1935, the city, excepting for about three months of exhibitions, has used this large garage in competition with private business and had permitted the parking and storing of thousands of cars and automobiles for the general public, residents in Cleveland and other parts of the state and country. In fact, during the year 1933 the underground exhibition hall was used for exhibition purposes only on one occasion at which time the structure was leased by International Exhibitions, Inc. During the year 1934 ten major events or exhibitions were held. When the structure is used for exhibition or entertainment purposes, all automobiles whether for parking or storage are as a rule removed from the underground hall. The use of it for parking and storage of automobiles occurs only when such use does not interfere in any way with the use of the structure for exhibitions or other public purposes.
For the erection and completion of the public hall and the underground exhibition hall connected therewith, bonds were issued and sold in the amount of $6,050,000.
On April 26, 1934, Ferdinand W. Ruple, a taxpayer of the city of Cleveland and acting receiver of the Auditorium Garage Building, which is located in the immediate neighborhood of the city structure in question and which is operated as a private garage in the hands of such receiver, brought an action to enjoin the city of Cleveland, its Mayor, Director of Parks and Public Property, Commissioner of Public Auditorium and Stadium, Director of Law, Acting Director of Law, and each of them, from carrying on the garage business in such underground exhibition hall.
The Court of Common Pleas found in favor of the city and the petition was dismissed. The court based its decision upon the ground that in practicing economy, especially under the present economic conditions, the city should be permitted to derive revenue from the garage business rather than to permit the building to remain idle.
On appeal the Court of Appeals found for plaintiff and granted a permanent injunction against all the defendants.
By the terms of the decree the defendants were enjoined from doing directly or indirectly and at all times from the date thereof, the following things or acts: "(1) From parking or storing automobiles, trucks, busses and/or any other vehicles for or on behalf of any individual, partnership, firm or corporation, for consideration or hire in that portion of the Public Hall of the City of Cleveland known as the Underground Exhibition Hall or the public Hall Annex or in any other portion of said Public Hall;
This court ordered a certification of the record.
Mr. Ezra Z. Shapiro and Mr. Alfred Clum, directors of law; Mr. Gordon C. Locke and Mr. Alfred Lawrence, for plaintiffs in error.
Messrs. Horwitz, Kiefer, Gates & Harmel, for defendant in error.
The right of private property is guaranteed and protected by the fundamental law of the state and nation. The state and federal...
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