Victoria Plaza Ltd. Liab. Co. v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Revision, 98-1446.

• Decision Date: 28 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1446.,98-1446.
• Citation: 712 NE 2d 751,86 Ohio St.3d 181
• Parties: VICTORIA PLAZA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ET AL., APPELLEES, v. CUYAHOGA COUNTY BOARD OF REVISION; NORTH OLMSTED BOARD OF EDUCATION, APPELLANT.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

86 Ohio St.3d 181

712 NE 2d 751

VICTORIA PLAZA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ET AL., APPELLEES, v. CUYAHOGA COUNTY BOARD OF REVISION; NORTH OLMSTED BOARD OF EDUCATION, APPELLANT.

No. 98-1446.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted March 17, 1999.

Decided July 28, 1999.

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

Kolick & Kondzer, Thomas A. Kondzer and Kimberly A. Aldrich, for appellant.

Per Curiam.

The BOE primarily argues that Company, despite having an equitable interest in the property, does not have standing to file a valuation complaint as an owner, contending that the owner must hold legal title to the property. Company responds that, first, it had sufficient ownership interest, an equitable interest, to have standing to file the complaint. Second, it maintains that the complaint satisfies the standing requirement because the complaint listed Company and Partnership as the owner of the property, each of which, at some point, owned the property.

We conclude that the holder of an equitable interest in real property does not have standing to file a valuation complaint. We further conclude that Partnership held legal title to the property when Company and Partnership filed their joint complaint and that Partnership had standing to proceed on the joint complaint.

R.C. 5715.19(A)(1) provides for the filing of valuation complaints:

"Any person owning taxable real property in the county * * * may file [a valuation] complaint regarding any such determination affecting any real property in the county * * *."

In Soc. Natl. Bank v. Wood Cty. Bd. of Revision (1998), 81 Ohio St.3d 401, 403, 692 N.E.2d 148, 150, we held that a complainant under the statute "must own taxable real property in the county at the time the complaint is filed." In Buckeye Foods v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Revision (1997), 78 Ohio St.3d 459, 461, 678 N.E.2d 917, 919, we ruled that standing to file valuation complaints is jurisdictional. Standing is jurisdictional in administrative appeals "where parties must meet strict standing requirements in order to satisfy the threshold requirement for the administrative tribunal to obtain jurisdiction." State ex rel. Tubbs Jones v. Suster (1998), 84 Ohio St.3d 70, 77, 701 N.E.2d 1002, 1008, fn. 4. Thus, to have standing, one filing a valuation complaint as the owner of real property must own real property in the county when such person files the complaint to invoke the jurisdiction of the board of revision.

To satisfy this standing requirement, Company maintains that it owned an equitable interest in the property. However, in Bloom v. Wides (1955), 164 Ohio St. 138, 141, 57 O.O. 132, 134, 128 N.E.2d 31, 33, the court stated, "[w]here the term `owner' is employed with reference to land or buildings, it is commonly understood to mean the person who holds the legal title." Moreover, in State ex rel. Multiplex, Inc. v. S. Euclid (1973), 36 Ohio St.2d 167, 169-170, 65 O.O.2d 383, 384-385, 304 N.E.2d 906, 907-908, the court, citing Bloom, ruled that a purchaser that had not yet taken title to real property was not the owner of the property. Consequently, to be the owner of real property, the person must hold legal title to the property, not simply an equitable interest in the property.

Company also argues that Bloom and Multiplex interpreted the term "owner" and that R.C. 5715.19 employs the phrase ...