Stevens v. Ackman

• Decision Date: 28 March 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-225, No. 00-513.
• Citation: 743 NE 2d 901,91 Ohio St.3d 182
• Parties: STEVENS, APPELLANT, v. ACKMAN ET AL.; CITY OF MIDDLETOWN, APPELLEE.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

91 Ohio St.3d 182

743 NE 2d 901

STEVENS, APPELLANT, v. ACKMAN ET AL.; CITY OF MIDDLETOWN, APPELLEE.

Nos. 00--513.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted November 29, 2000.

Decided March 28, 2001.

Ted L. Wills, Howard M. Schwartz and Marc D. Mezibov, for appellant.

Robert J. Gehring and Leslie S. Landen, Middletown Law Director, for appellee.

Arthur, O'Neil, Mertz & Bates Co., L.P.A., and Joseph W. O'Neil, urging reversal for amicus curiae Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers.

John E. Gotherman, Barry M. Byron and Stephen L. Byron, urging affirmance for amicus curiae Ohio Municipal League.

Isaac, Brant, Ledman & Teetor, Mark Landes and Paul A. Mackenzie, urging affirmance for amici curiae County Commissioners' Association of Ohio and County Engineers' Association of Ohio.

ALICE ROBIE RESNICK, J.

I Facts and Procedural History

On December 16, 1994, seventeen-year-old Corey C. Banks died in an automobile accident on Roosevelt Avenue (also called Roosevelt Road) in Middletown, Ohio. Banks was a passenger in an automobile operated by Emily J. Duff, now known as Emily J. Ackman, a classmate of his at Middletown High School. Duff's vehicle went left of center in a heavy rain and collided with an oncoming vehicle. When police arrived at the scene, Banks was dead. On December 13, 1996, plaintiff-appellant Shira Sue Stevens (the mother of Banks and the administrator of his estate) filed a complaint against Ackman and appellee, the city of Middletown, in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, alleging that they were responsible for the wrongful death of Banks. Stevens asserted that Middletown was liable for Banks's death for its failure to properly maintain Roosevelt Road, including allowing an unsafe pavement edge drop to exist on the side of the road, which caused Ackman to lose control of her vehicle when she attempted to return it to the roadway after it had dropped off the pavement edge. Stevens alleged that Middletown breached its duty to maintain Roosevelt Road open, in repair, and free from nuisance, and that the roadway was unsafe.

Middletown moved for summary judgment pursuant to R.C. Chapter 2744, the Political Subdivision Tort Liability Act, claiming that it was entitled to statutory immunity and that Stevens was unable to prevail against it as a matter of law. Middletown argued that the exception to political subdivision immunity found in R.C. 2744.02(B)(3) ("political subdivisions are liable for injury, death, or loss to persons or property caused by their failure to keep public roads * * * open, in repair, and free from nuisance") was not applicable in the circumstances of this case to defeat its immunity.

The trial court denied the motion for summary judgment, relying on this court's decisions in Dickerhoof v. Canton (1983), 6 Ohio St.3d 128, 6 OBR 186, 451 N.E.2d 1193; Manufacturer's Natl. Bank of Detroit v. Erie Cty. Rd. Comm. (1992), 63 Ohio St.3d 318, 322, 587 N.E.2d 819, 823; and Franks v. Lopez (1994), 69 Ohio St.3d 345, 632 N.E.2d 502, to conclude that the alleged failure of the city to eliminate the edge drop on Roosevelt Road was potentially a failure to keep the roadway free from nuisance pursuant to the exception to immunity under R.C. 2744.02(B)(3). The trial court specifically rejected Middletown's argument that the city could be liable only for the failure to maintain the actual roadway itself, so that there could be no liability because the shoulder or berm of Roosevelt Road was not the roadway.

The trial court also found that there were issues of fact as to whether Middletown had notice of the condition, and further that there was no merit to Middletown's contention that the defense for discretionary decisions contained in R.C. 2744.03(A)(5) was applicable. The trial court determined that the city had failed to meet its burden in support of the motion and that genuine issues of material fact remained to be determined.

Middletown appealed the denial of its summary judgment motion to the Court of Appeals for Butler County, initially relying on R.C. 2744.02(C): "An order that denies a political subdivision or an employee of a political subdivision the benefit of an alleged immunity from liability as provided in Chapter 2744. or any other provision of the law is a final order."

After the parties had briefed the appeal on the merits, Stevens filed a motion to dismiss the appeal on August 10, 1999, primarily arguing that R.C. 2744.02(C) was not retroactive to apply to a case arising from a death that occurred in 1994. Stevens also argued that the order appealed from was not a final order because it was taken from a trial court ruling on issues of fact, not of law, and further argued that the failure of the trial court to determine in its order that there was "no just reason for delay" deprived the court of appeals of jurisdiction. See Civ.R. 54(B).

Before the court of appeals ruled on that motion to dismiss, this court, on August 16, 1999, announced the decision in State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. Sheward (1999), 86 Ohio St.3d 451, 715 N.E.2d 1062. On August 25, 1999, Stevens filed a second motion in the court of appeals to dismiss the appeal, again urging that the court of appeals was without jurisdiction to entertain Middletown's appeal. Stevens argued that because R.C. 2744.02(C) was enacted in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 ("H.B. 350"), and because this court's opinion in Sheward, at paragraph three of the syllabus, had declared H.B. 350 to be "unconstitutional in toto," there was no basis for the court of appeals to maintain jurisdiction over the appeal.

Middletown responded to Stevens's second motion to dismiss by arguing that, as an alternate ground for its appeal, the court of appeals had jurisdiction over the order pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B)(2) as an order that affected a substantial right made in a special proceeding, or pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B)(4) as an order that denied a provisional remedy. Middletown also argued that the lack of Civ.R. 54(B) certification by the trial court did not deprive the court of appeals of jurisdiction.

In its opinion, the court of appeals denied both of Stevens's motions to dismiss. The court of appeals found that it had jurisdiction over the appeal pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B)(2), finding that the trial court order denying statutory immunity affected a "substantial right" and was entered in a "special proceeding," and so denied Stevens's second motion to dismiss for that reason. The court of appeals found that the underlying action was a "civil claim for wrongful death and survivorship," both of which were unknown at common law and "did not exist in law or equity prior to 1853," so that a special proceeding was involved within the meaning of R.C. 2505.02(A)(2).

The court of appeals therefore did not specifically rule on Stevens's argument, raised within her second motion to dismiss, that it had no jurisdiction pursuant to R.C. 2744.02(C) in the wake of the Sheward decision. Furthermore, because it based its jurisdiction on R.C. 2505.02(B)(2), the court of appeals denied Stevens's first motion to dismiss, relating to retroactivity of R.C. 2744.02(C), as moot.

After thus finding Middletown's appeal properly before it, the court of appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court on the merits and entered summary judgment in favor of Middletown, finding that the municipality was entitled to political subdivision immunity. The court of appeals held as a matter of law that the edge drop at issue did not constitute a nuisance within the meaning of R.C. 2744.02(B)(3), so that Middletown could not be liable for an alleged failure to keep the roadway free from nuisance.

Finding its judgment on the merits issue to be in conflict with the judgment of the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Thompson v. Muskingum Cty. Bd. of Commrs. (Nov. 12, 1998), Muskingum App. No. CT98-0010, unreported, 1998 WL 817826, the court of appeals granted Stevens's motion to certify a conflict. The issue certified is "whether an edge drop on the berm of a county or city road, in and of itself, constitutes a nuisance within the meaning of R.C. 2744.02(B)(3)." In Thompson, the Fifth District Court of Appeals found that whether the edge drop between the pavement and the berm is a nuisance for purposes of R.C. 2744.02(B)(3) is a factual question, relying on Dickerhoof, 6 Ohio St.3d 128, 6 OBR 186, 451 N.E.2d 1193. Thus, the court of appeals in Thompson refused to adopt the position adopted by the court of appeals in the case sub judice, which is that an edge drop cannot be a "nuisance" as that term is used in R.C. 2744.02(B)(3).

Stevens also moved the court of appeals to certify a conflict on the issue of whether, in the wake of the Sheward decision, a court of appeals has jurisdiction pursuant to R.C. 2744.02(C) to hear an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a political subdivision's summary judgment motion based upon statutory immunity. The court of appeals declined to certify a conflict on that issue.

The cause is now before this court upon our determination that a conflict exists on the edge-drop issue (case No. 00-513), and pursuant to the allowance of a discretionary appeal (case No. 00-225).

II

Appellate Court Jurisdiction

A Standards for Appealability

Section 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution limits the appellate jurisdiction of the courts of appeals to the review of judgments and final orders of lower courts. Section 3(B)(2), Article IV provides "Courts of appeals shall have such jurisdiction as may be provided by law to review and affirm, modify, or reverse judgments or final orders of the courts of record inferior to the court of appeals within the district and shall have such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law to review and affirm, modify, or reverse final orders or actions of administrative officers or agencies."

The initial issue for resolution, as a prerequisite to any consideration of the merits of this case, is...