Wadsworth v. Ottawa County Bd. of Ed.
| Decision Date | 03 November 1958 |
| Citation | 108 Ohio App. 246,161 N.E.2d 404 |
| Parties | , 9 O.O.2d 248 WADSWORTH, Appellant, v. OTTAWA COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, Appellee. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. An action for a declaratory judgment, by an elector on behalf of himself and other electors similarly situated with a common interest in the construction of Sections 3311.231 and 3311.261, Revised Code, which prescribe, respectively, procedure for the transfer of a local school district within the adjoining county school district to an adjoining city school district and the procedure for consolidation of a school district having only an elementary school with an adjoining local city school district having a high school, is proper and authorized to secure a determination of the respective rights thereunder.
2. In an action for a declaratory judgment, where the defendant county board of education has before it two petitions of electors under each of Sections 3311.231 and 3311.261, Revised Code, the petitioners under the latter section would be legally affected and are necessary parties to the action.
3. Failure to make such petitioners under Section 3311.261, Revised Code, parties, deprives the court of jurisdiction of the action, since Section 2721.12, Revised Code, provides that all persons shall be made parties who have or claim any interest which would be affected by the declaration.
4. In the absence of all necessary parties to an action for a declaratory judgment, the court lacks jurisdiction to decide the proceeding on the merits.
Thierry & Morton, Port Clinton, for appellant.
Leslie E. Meyer, Pros. Atty., Port Clinton, for appellee.
This appeal is on questions of law from a judgment of the Common Pleas Court upon a petition for a declaratory judgment. While an answer was not filed, the defendant was represented at the hearing by the county prosecuting attorney. By stipulation, the case was submitted to the trial court on the petition as constituting all the facts before the court. The parties will be referred to as plaintiff and defendant
The undisputed facts as set forth in the petition are as follows:
'The plaintiff, Alvin C. Wadsworth, says that he brings this action on behalf of himself and others who are so numerous that it is impracticable to bring them all before the court, and who have a common interest with plaintiff herein and could rightfully be joined with plaintiff herein, and are similarly situated with him in the subject of this action.
'Plaintiff says that he is a qualified elector of the Erie Local School District in Erie Township, Ottawa County, Ohio; that he and 384 others who are likewise qualified electors of said Erie Local School District and who have a common interest with plaintiff in the subject of this action, duly signed a petition, hereinafter referred to as 'Port Clinton petition' directed to defendant board of education petitioning said defendant to transfer all of the said Erie Local School District to the Port Clinton School District, and to place such proposal on the ballot at the appropriate November election as provided in Section 3311.231 (3311.23.1) of the Revised Code of Ohio; that plaintiff and said 384 others who signed said Port Clinton petition are more than seventy-five per cent of the qualified electors voting at the last general election residing within the school district proposed to be transferred by said Port Clinton petition; that said Port Clinton petition was filed at the office of the county superintendent of schools at 8:00 o'clock a. m. on the 25th day of April, 1958; that on or about April 26, 1958, said county superintendent of schools caused the Ottawa County Board of Elections to check the sufficiency of signatures on said petition; that said board of elections on May 1, 1958, notified defendant board of education that the signatures on said Port Clinton petition met the requirements of sufficiency needed and referred to in Section 3311.231 of the Revised Code of Ohio.
'Further pleading, plaintiff says that in the evening of the 25th day of April, 1958, another petition, hereinafter referred to as 'Salem-Oak Harbor petition,' was delivered to said county superintendent of schools at his home; that said Salem-Oak Harbor petition purports to petition said defendant board of education to consolidate all of said Erie Local School District with the Salem-Oak Harbor Local School District pursuant to Section 3311.261 (3311.26.1) of the Revised Code of Ohio; that said Salem-Oak Harbor petition contained about 120 signatures of purported qualified electors of said Erie Local School District; that said number of purported electors appears to equal at least 75 per cent of the qualified voters voting at the last general election residing within said Erie Local School District; that a further and like petition containing 12 signatures of purported electors was later delivered to said county superintendent of schools.
'Plaintiff further says that said Erie Township Local School District of Ottawa County, Ohio, is a local district of the County School District of Ottawa County, Ohio, and has only an elementary school; that said Erie Local School District adjoins the Port Clinton City School District on the east and the Salem-Oak Harbor Local School District, on the west; and that both the Port Clinton City School District and the Salem-Oak Harbor School District have high schools.
'Further pleading, plaintiff says that at a regular meeting of the defendant board of education held in the evening of May 1, 1958, said Port Clinton petition and said Oak Harbor petition were presented to defendant board of education by said county superintendent of schools; that defendant board of education continued said meeting to May 15, 1958, without action being taken on either of said petitions.
'Plaintiff believes, and alleges, that under the provisions of Sections 3311.231 and 3311.261 of the Revised Code of Ohio, the first filing of said Port Clinton petition with said county superintendent of schools gives said Port Clinton petition preference and priority, requiring that it be processed through all pertinent procedures of Section 3311.231 of the Revised Code, so that said Salem-Oak Harbor petition, filed later with said county superintendent of schools, will pend until an election has been had and certified on said Port Clinton petition; and that unless said statutes are so construed, said defendant board of education will transfer said Erie Local School District to said Salem-Oak Harbor Local School District in violation of the rights of plaintiff and those similarly situated with him.'
Plaintiff prays for a declaratory judgment as to his rights and the rights of those similarly situated with him, subject to this action, to have the Port Clinton petition processed according to law and adjudging and declaring that by virtue of the statutes herein referred to, the defendant board of education has no legal right to transfer the Erie Local School District to the Salem-Oak Harbor Local School District until an election has been had and certified on the Port Clinton petition and for such other and further relief as may be just and proper.
Plaintiff, on behalf of himself and others of like interest and similarly situated, asks for an interpretation of Section 3311.231, Revised Code, the provisions of which plaintiff followed. The pertinent portions thereof are:
'* * * qualified electors of the area affected equal in number to not less than fifty-five per cent of the qualified electors voting at the last general election residing within that portion of a school district proposed to be transferred may propose, by petition, the transfer of a part or all of one or more local school districts within the county to an adjoining county school district or to an adjoining city or exempted village school district.
Said petition shall be filed at the office of the county superintendent of schools. The county superintendent shall cause the board of elections to check the sufficiency of signatures on said petition and shall present the petition to the county board of education at the next meeting of said board which occurs not later than thirty days following the filing of the petition. * * *
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* * *
'If the proposal was initiated by petition and effects one or more entire districts the county board shall, within sixty days following the filing of the petition, certify the proposal to the county board of elections of such counties as will be affected by the proposal in the manner and for the purposes hereinafter stated.'
Plaintiff also seeks an interpretation of Section 3311.261, Revised Code, governing procedure followed by electors referred to as 'Salem-Oak Harbor petition,' the pertinent portions of such section being:
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...(1939). See also Zanesville v. Zanesville Canal & Mfg. Co., 159 Ohio St. 203, 111 N.E.2d 922 (1953); Wadsworth v. Ottawa County Bd. of Education, 108 Ohio App. 246, 161 N.E.2d 404 (1958); Coleman v. Henry, 184 Tenn. 550, 201 S.W.2d 686 (1947). For us to hold otherwise destroys the purpose o......
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Neal v. Reliance Elec. & Engineering Co., Master Elec. Div.
...effect from that presented here. Heidtman v. City of Shaker Heights, 99 Ohio App. 415, 119 N.E.2d 644; Wadsworth v. Ottawa County Board of Education, 108 Ohio App. 246, 161 N.E.2d 404. A careful reading of the chapter of the Revised Code on declaratory judgments supplies the answer to our p......
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Lloyd E. Shoemaker v. City of Piqua
... ... Charter." (Entry, April 26, 2000) ... In ... Wadsworth v. Ottawa County Board of Education ... (1958), 108 Ohio App. 246, competing petitions were ... ...