Southern Christian Leadership Conference v. Combined Health Dist.

• Decision Date: 30 December 2010
• Docket Number: No. 23586.,23586.
• Citation: 191 Ohio App.3d 405,946 N.E.2d 282
• Parties: SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE et al., Appellants,v.COMBINED HEALTH DISTRICT et al., Appellees.
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

191 Ohio App.3d 405

946 N.E.2d 282

2010 -Ohio- 6550

SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE et al., Appellants,

v.COMBINED HEALTH DISTRICT et al., Appellees.

No. 23586.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Second District, Montgomery County.

Decided Dec. 30, 2010.

Scaccia & Associates, L.L.C., and John J. Scaccia, Dayton, for appellants.Surdyk, Dowd & Turner Co., Robert J. Surdyk, and Brendan D. Healy, Miamisburg; and Mathias Heck Jr., Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney, and John A. Cumming, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellees Combined Health District, the Montgomery County Health Commissioner, and the Montgomery County Board of Health.J. Hollingsworth & Associates, L.L.C., and Jonathan Hollingsworth, Dayton, for appellee Mt. Olive Baptist Church.BROGAN, Judge.

[Ohio App.3d 409] {¶ 1} Before us is the appeal of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (“SCLC”) and five taxpayers (the “taxpayers”) from a trial court's judgment dismissing their respective claims for lack of standing and from the trial court's judgment overruling their motion to amend the complaint and motion for Civ.R. 60(B)(5) relief. After review, we conclude that the factual allegations in the [Ohio App.3d 410] complaint establish SCLC's standing. But we conclude that the allegations do not establish the taxpayers' standing. We further conclude that the trial court properly overruled the motions. Accordingly, we will in part affirm the judgment of dismissal and in part reverse it, and we will affirm the judgment that overruled the motions.

I. Facts

{¶ 2} Here are the facts pertinent to this appeal, taken from the factual allegations in the amended complaint, which for purposes of deciding a Civ.R. 12(B)(6) motion to dismiss are presumed true.

{¶ 3} There are several parties in this case. SCLC is a nonprofit, charitable organization, and the taxpayers are individual taxpaying residents of Montgomery County. Mount Olive is a church in Montgomery County, and the Combined Health District (“CHD”) is a public-health agency serving Dayton and Montgomery County, also known as Public Health Dayton and Montgomery County. CHD is run by the Montgomery County Health Commissioner and the Montgomery County Board of Health. The latter oversees CHD's operations, which includes the awarding of grants for community-health-education programs. For the past 16 years, CHD has awarded SCLC a grant to operate an HIV/AIDS education program known as the “RACE” program. CHD's reviews of SCLC's performance in operating the RACE program have ranged from very good to outstanding.

{¶ 4} In May 2008, CHD solicited grant proposals for three HIV/AIDS community-education programs, one of which was the RACE program. Selection was competitive, and proposals were submitted under seal. SCLC submitted a proposal for the grant. Among the other organizations to submit a proposal was Mount Olive Baptist Church. CHD was required to evaluate the proposals in part based on the organizations' experience in running such programs. For organizations that had received grants previously, CHD was also to consider their historical performance. After evaluating all the proposals, CHD awarded the grant to Mount Olive.

{¶ 5} Subsequently, SCLC learned disturbing information about Mount Olive's proposal and how CHD had made its decision. SCLC became aware of allegations that Mount Olive's proposal contained material misrepresentations and falsehoods with respect to its knowledge and experience running community-education programs. SCLC also learned of allegations that some signatures on Mount Olive's proposal were forged. SCLC presented these allegations to CHD, but CHD refused to investigate them. CHD also said that it did not consider SCLC's historical performance running the RACE program, though CHD did [Ohio App.3d 411] consider the historical performance of other previous grant recipients who submitted proposals.

{¶ 6} On December 23, 2008, SCLC and the taxpayers filed a complaint—later amended—in the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. The complaint named as defendants CHD, the Montgomery County Health Commissioner, the members of the Montgomery County Board of Health, and Mount Olive. In the complaint, SCLC and the taxpayers each stated several theories of their claims. SCLC alleged against CHD civil conspiracy, retaliation, and fraud, and against Mount Olive, tortious interference, civil conspiracy, and fraud. The taxpayers alleged against CHD civil conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, and misuse of public funds under R.C. 309.13, and against the Montgomery County Health Commissioner and the members of the Montgomery County Board of Health, breach of fiduciary duty as well as misuse of public funds under R.C. 309.13. Finally, against Mount Olive, the taxpayers alleged civil conspiracy and fraud. In the alternative, SCLC and the taxpayers requested a writ of mandamus and/or prohibition. For relief, they demanded an injunction enjoining CHD from awarding the grant to Mount Olive and an injunction enjoining Mount Olive from accepting the grant. They also demanded an order directing CHD to reevaluate the grant proposals. In response to the complaint, Mount Olive and CHD—for itself, the Montgomery County Health Commissioner, and the Montgomery County Board of Health—each filed a motion to dismiss under Civ.R. 12(B)(6) for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. In their respective motions, Mount Olive and CHD contended that neither SCLC nor the taxpayers had standing to bring any of the claims.

{¶ 7} On July 22, 2009, the trial court agreed that SCLC and the taxpayers did not have standing, so it dismissed all their claims. On July 31, SCLC and the taxpayers filed three motions, a motion for Civ.R. 60(B) relief, an alternative motion for reconsideration, and a motion to amend the caption of the complaint. A week later, the trial court overruled all three motions on the grounds that it did not have jurisdiction to grant them. SCLC and the taxpayers then filed a timely notice of appeal of the judgment that dismissed their claims. And a little over a week later, they filed an amended notice of appeal that stated their intent to also appeal the judgment overruling the three motions.

II. Threshold Issue of Jurisdiction

{¶ 8} Before considering the assignments of error, we first address a threshold issue raised by Mount Olive concerning our jurisdiction over part of the judgment of dismissal. Mount Olive contends that we lack jurisdiction to review that part of the judgment in which the trial court sustained Mount Olive's motion to dismiss and dismissed the claims against it. Jurisdiction is lacking, Mount [Ohio App.3d 412] Olive argues, because the notice of appeal does not designate that part of the judgment but designates only the part in which the trial court sustained CHD's motion to dismiss and dismissed the claims against it.

{¶ 9} App.R. 3 dictates how a party appeals (as of right) a trial court's judgment or order. According to paragraph (A), “the only jurisdictional requirement for the filing of a valid appeal is the timely filing of a notice of appeal.” Transamerica Ins. Co. v. Nolan (1995), 72 Ohio St.3d 320, 322, 649 N.E.2d 1229. The issue then becomes whether the notice contains any other defects, and if it does, whether sanctions are warranted. See id. (if the notice contains any other defects, “a court of appeals is vested with discretion to determine whether sanctions, including dismissal, are warranted”); App.R. 3(A). App.R. 3(D) dictates the items a notice of appeal must specify. Among them, “[t]he notice of appeal * * * shall designate the judgment, order or part thereof appealed from.” App.R. 3(D).

{¶ 10} While plaintiffs-appellants timely filed the notice of appeal, Mount Olive is correct that the notice expressly states only plaintiffs-appellants' intent to appeal “from the Decision Sustaining Motion to Dismiss Defendants Combined Health District of the Montgomery County Court of Common Please [sic], Civil Division, entered on July 22, 2009.” The notice, then, does not expressly designate that part of the judgment concerning its motion to dismiss. But for this defect, we conclude that sanctions are unnecessary.

{¶ 11} Looking behind the form of the notice, we think that plaintiffs-appellants' clear intent was to appeal the entire judgment of dismissal. Evidence for this is found in the first assignment of error, in which SCLC argues that the trial court wrongly dismissed its tortious-interference claim, a claim it brings only against Mount Olive. Moreover, the purpose of filing a notice of appeal “is to ‘* * * apprise the opposite party of the taking of an appeal.’ ” Maritime Mfrs., Inc. v. Hi–Skipper Marina (1982), 70 Ohio St.2d 257, 259, 24 O.O.3d 344, 436 N.E.2d 1034, quoting Capital Loan & Sav. Co. v. Biery (1938), 134 Ohio St. 333, 339, 12 O.O. 128, 16 N.E.2d 450. We find no evidence that the notice of appeal somehow misled Mount Olive about plaintiffs-appellants' intent. Further, “justice is ultimately best served by an attitude of judicial tolerance toward minor errors, made in good faith, which pose no danger of prejudice to the opposing party or to the court's essential functions.” Natl. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Papenhagen (1987), 30 Ohio St.3d 14, 16, 30 OBR 21, 505 N.E.2d 980. We find no evidence that Mount Olive was prejudiced or taken by surprise. Indeed, it is evident that Mount Olive well understood that plaintiffs-appellants' intent was to appeal the entire judgment of dismissal because Mount Olive timely filed an appellee's brief supporting that part of the judgment concerning its motion to dismiss.

[Ohio App.3d 413] {¶ 12} We conclude that we have jurisdiction over the entire judgment of dismissal.

III. Dismissal of Plaintiff–Appellants' Claims

{¶ 13} SCLC and the taxpayers assign four errors to the trial court. The first and second concern the judgment dismissing their claims, and the third and fourth concern the...