Walker v. City of Toledo

• Decision Date: 18 December 2014
• Docket Number: No. 2013–1277.,2013–1277.
• Citation: 39 N.E.3d 474,2014 Ohio 5461,143 Ohio St.3d 420
• Parties: WALKER, Appellee, v. The CITY OF TOLEDO et al., Appellants.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

143 Ohio St.3d 420

39 N.E.3d 474

2014 Ohio 5461

WALKER, Appellee,

v.The CITY OF TOLEDO et al., Appellants.

No. 2013–1277.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted June 11, 2014.

Decided Dec. 18, 2014.

Mayle, Ray & Mayle, L.L.C., Andrew R. Mayle, Jeremiah S. Ray, and Ronald J. Mayle, Fremont; and Murray & Murray Co., L.P.A., and John T. Murray, Sandusky, for appellee.

Adam W. Loukx, Toledo Law Director, and Eileen M. Granata ; and Crabbe, Brown & James, L.L.P., Andy Douglas, Larry H. James, and Jeffrey D. Houser, Columbus, for appellant city of Toledo.

Bricker & Eckler, L.L.P., Quintin F. Lindsmith, James P. Schuck, and Sommer L. Sheely, Columbus, for appellant Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc.

Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P., Gregory V. Mersol, and Chris Bator, Cleveland; and Barbara A. Langhenry, Cleveland Director of Law, and Gary S. Singletary and John Mills, Assistant Directors of Law, urging reversal for amici curiae Xerox State & Local Solutions, Inc., and city of Cleveland.

Frost Brown Todd, L.L.C., Philip K. Hartmann, Yazan S. Ashrawi, and Stephen J. Smith ; John Gotherman, Columbus; Jennifer S. Gams, Assistant City Attorney, Columbus; and John C. Musto, Assistant City Attorney, Dayton, urging reversal for amici curiae the Ohio Municipal League, the city of Columbus, and the city of Dayton.

Ronald Riley, East Cleveland Law Director; and Squire Sanders, L.L.P., Richard S. Gurbst, and F. Maximilian Czernin, Cleveland, urging reversal for amici curiae city of East Cleveland and American Traffic Solutions, Inc.

Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr., Columbus City Attorney, and Jennifer S. Gams and Janet Hill Arbogast, Assistant City Attorneys, urging reversal for amicus curiae city of Columbus.

Freda J. Levenson, Jennifer Martinez Atzberger, Cleveland, and Drew S. Dennis, urging affirmance for amicus curiae American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation.

Maurice A. Thompson, urging affirmance for amici curiae 1851 Center for Constitutional Law; State Representatives Dale Mallory, John Adams, Ron Maag, John Becker, Matt Lynch, Rick Perales, Terry Boose, Margaret Conditt, Terry Blair, Richard Adams, Bob Hacket, Peter Stautberg, Cliff Rosenberger, Mike Dovilla, Tim Derickson, Dave Hall, Alicia Reece, Louis Blessing III, Bill Patmon, Peter Beck, and John Barnes ; and State Senators Kris Jordan, Shannon Jones, Joseph Uecker, Tom Patton, Jonathan Ecklund, Timothy Schaffer, and William Seitz.

KENNEDY, J.

{¶ 1} In this discretionary appeal from the Sixth District Court of Appeals, we determine whether the court of appeals erred in holding that the city of Toledo's civil administrative enforcement of its traffic ordinances violates Article IV, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution. We accepted the following propositions of law from appellant city of Toledo:

1. Neither R.C. § 1901.20 nor Ohio Constitution, Article IV, Section 1 are offended when a home rule municipality enacts, by ordinance, a civil administrative process for photo enforcement of speed and red light violation.

2. R.C. § 1901.20 does not confer exclusive jurisdiction over civil administrative violations of municipal codes to municipal courts.

{¶ 2} We also accepted a proposition of law from appellant Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc., which asserts: "Ohio municipalities have the home-rule authority to maintain pre-suit administrative proceedings, including conducting administrative hearings, in furtherance of their civil traffic enforcement ordinances."

{¶ 3} We reaffirm our holding in Mendenhall v. Akron, 117 Ohio St.3d 33, 2008-Ohio-270, 881 N.E.2d 255, that municipalities have home-rule authority under Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution to impose civil liability on traffic violators through an administrative enforcement system. We also hold that Ohio Constitution, Article IV, Section 1, which authorizes the legislature to create municipal courts, and R.C. 1901.20, which sets the jurisdiction of municipal courts, do not endow municipal courts with exclusive authority over civil administrative enforcement of traffic-law violations. Finally, we hold that Ohio municipalities have home-rule authority to establish administrative proceedings, including administrative hearings, related to civil enforcement of traffic ordinances, and that these administrative proceedings must be exhausted before offenders or the municipality can pursue judicial remedies. We therefore reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 4} This case comes to us as an appeal from the court of appeals' reversal of the trial court's dismissal of a complaint pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(6). "In construing a complaint upon a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, we must presume that all factual allegations of the complaint are true and make all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party." Mitchell v. Lawson Milk Co ., 40 Ohio St.3d 190, 192, 532 N.E.2d 753 (1988). Therefore, the facts are accepted as true as presented in appellee's complaint.

{¶ 5} In 2008, the city of Toledo enacted Toledo Municipal Code ("TMC") 313.12, authorizing an automated traffic-law-enforcement system that assesses civil penalties against a vehicle's owner for speeding and red-light violations. The enforcement apparatus includes a camera and a vehicle sensor and automatically produces photos, video, or digital images of vehicles violating these traffic laws. TMC 313.12(b)(1). Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc., provides the equipment and shares the revenue with Toledo.

{¶ 6} Toledo transportation officials, as well as Toledo's police and law departments, administer the program. TMC 313.12(a)(2). When the Redflex equipment records a traffic violation, the city forwards a notice of liability to the vehicle's registered owner advising that a civil penalty of $120 has been assessed against him or her. TMC 313.12(a)(3)(B) and 313.12(d)(1) and (2). The notice of liability is not a criminal citation; it is a notice of civil liability and has no collateral consequences, such as the assignment of points against the owner's driver's license. TMC 313.12(c)(5) and 313.12(d)(1) and (2). The notice states that the owner must pay or file an appeal within 21 days of the date listed on the notice. TMC 313.12(a)(3)(C) and 313.12(d)(4).

{¶ 7} Failure to pay or appeal within that period is deemed a waiver of the right to contest liability and is considered an admission. TMC 313.12(d)(4). If an owner appeals, an administrative hearing is held, and if the owner offers evidence to show the hearing officer that he or she was not driving the vehicle when the violation occurred, the owner will not be held responsible for the violation. TMC 313.12(c)(4).

{¶ 8} Under TMC 313.12(d)(4), appeals are heard through an administrative process established by the Toledo police department. That provision adds that a "decision in favor of the City of Toledo may be enforced by means of a civil action or any other means provided by the Ohio Revised Code."

{¶ 9} R.C. 2506.01 provides the mechanism for further appeal. It states, "[E]very * * * decision of any officer * * * of any political subdivision of the state may be reviewed by the court of common pleas of the county in which the principal office of the political subdivision is located."

{¶ 10} Bradley Walker, appellee, received a notice of liability for a traffic violation under TMC 313.12, and he paid the city $120, without pursuing an administrative appeal. He then filed a class-action complaint against Toledo and Redflex for unjust enrichment, seeking their disgorgement of all civil penalties. The complaint asserted that TMC 313.12 is unconstitutional because it usurps the jurisdiction of the municipal court, is unconstitutionally vague, and violates due process. Appellants filed motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(6), which the trial court granted.

{¶ 11} Walker appealed, and in a split decision, the Sixth District Court of Appeals reversed, holding that TMC 313.12 is an unconstitutional violation of Article IV, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution ("The judicial power of the state is vested in a supreme court, courts of appeals, courts of common pleas and divisions thereof, and such other courts inferior to the supreme court as may from time to time be established by law"). The court held that without the express approval of the General Assembly, Toledo had divested the Toledo Municipal Court of the power granted to it by the legislature in R.C. 1901.20. That statute states that a "municipal court has jurisdiction of the violation of any ordinance of any municipal corporation within its territory."

{¶ 12} The Sixth District also held that because the case was on appeal from a trial court's granting of a Civ.R. 12(B)(6) motion to dismiss, Walker's allegation in his complaint that Toledo had never established an administrative appeal process must be accepted as true. Because Walker alleged that Toledo had offered him no notice and meaningful opportunity to be heard, the court of appeals said that Walker's due-process allegation survived the motion to dismiss. Toledo and Reflex appealed on the issue whether Toledo's civil administrative enforcement of its traffic ordinances violates the Ohio Constitution or R.C. 1901.20, and we accepted jurisdiction.

II. Legal Analysis

A. A city's enacting an ordinance providing for civil administrative enforcement of traffic offenses does not violate the Ohio Constitution

{¶ 13} We agree with appellants that a city's enacting an ordinance providing for a civil administrative enforcement of traffic laws does not offend R.C. 1901.20 or Ohio Constitution, Article IV, Section 1. We have already held that municipalities act within their constitutional home-rule powers when they establish automated systems for imposing civil liability on traffic-law violators. Mendenhall v. Akron, 117 Ohio St.3d 33, 2008-Ohio-...