Case Title: DeRolph v. State

Citation: 2001-Ohio-1347

Docket Number: 

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2001-05-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as DeRolph v. State, 93 Ohio St.3d 1274, 2001-Ohio-1347] 
 
 
DEROLPH ET AL., APPELLEES, v. THE STATE OF OHIO ET AL., APPELLANTS. 
[Cite as DeRolph v. State (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 1274.] 
School funding — Motion to compel discovery granted — Motion for protective 
order denied — Parties urged to cooperate during short discovery 
period. 
(No. 99-570 — Submitted May 2, 2001 — Decided May 11, 2001.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Common Pleas of Perry County, No. 22043. 
ON MOTION for Expedited Order to Compel Defendants-Appellants to Respond to 
Discovery. 
ON MOTION for Clarification, to Quash Subpoenas, and for Protective Order. 
__________________ 
 
MOYER, C.J.  We have ordered the parties to “file any evidence they intend 
to present” to this court “as early as practicable but no later than June 15, 2001.”  
DeRolph v. State (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 1225, 741 N.E.2d 533.  We further ordered 
the parties to simultaneously file their merit briefs on June 18, 2001.  Id.  We have 
set oral argument on the merits for June 20, 2001.  Id. 
 
In cross-motions now before us the parties disagree as to whether discovery 
mechanisms, such as depositions and written interrogatories, are available to them as 
they work towards satisfying the order of this court.  The state contends that 
discovery is not available in any form, and that it has no duty to respond to discovery 
requests which have been served upon them by the plaintiffs.  We do not accept this 
argument. 
 
The plaintiffs rely on S.Ct.Prac.R. X and Section 2(B)(1)(f), Article IV of the 
Ohio Constitution to support their contention that discovery is available.  Section 
2(B)(1), Article IV provides: 
 
“The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction in the following: 
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“ * * * 
 
“(f) In any cause on review as may be necessary to its complete 
determination.” 
 
S.Ct.Prac.R. X(2) provides that “[a]ll original actions shall proceed under the 
Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, unless clearly inapplicable.”  Section 1 of 
S.Ct.Prac.R. X provides that Rule X “applies only to actions, other than habeas 
corpus, within the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article IV, 
Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution.” 
 
The state counters that this case is not an “original action” but rather an 
appeal, and that S.Ct.Prac.R. X(2) therefore does not apply. 
 
In the final analysis, it is clear that Section 2(B)(1)(f), Article IV of the Ohio 
Constitution vests this court with original jurisdiction “[i]n any cause on review as 
may be necessary to its complete determination.”  This constitutional provision 
clearly authorizes us to make orders in the case at bar, including an order that the 
discovery provisions of the Rules of Civil Procedure shall be deemed applicable, 
whether S.Ct.Prac.R. X applies according to its own terms or not.  We so order. 
 
When DeRolph II was decided, this court considered several options 
regarding the proper procedure that should thereafter be implemented.  The plaintiffs 
urged the appointment of a special master.  We rejected that proposal.  DeRolph v. 
State (2000), 89 Ohio St.3d 1, 38, 728 N.E.2d 993, 1022.  We could have ordered a 
remand to the Perry County Common Pleas Court, as had been done in DeRolph v. 
State (1997), 78 Ohio St.3d 193, 677 N.E.2d 733 (“DeRolph I”).  The court declined 
to do so, deciding instead to retain continuing jurisdiction.  89 Ohio St.3d at 38, 728 
N.E.2d at 1022. 
 
The state contends that the retention of continuing jurisdiction by this court 
in May 2000 reflects a decision by this court that further proceedings would 
thereafter be conducted under traditional appellate procedure, which excludes 
discovery.  It argues that, had the court anticipated a need for discovery, it would 
January Term, 2001 
3 
have remanded the cause to the trial court for a full evidentiary hearing, as it did 
after DeRolph I. 
 
It has previously been observed that “the most expeditious means of 
removing the uncertainty regarding the constitutionality of the new [statutory 
school-funding] plan is for this court to issue an order retaining jurisdiction in this 
court.  If it proves necessary to provide a forum for the submission of evidence or to 
take further action at the expiration of the twelve-month stay, we have the authority 
to appoint a special master or issue other orders as might be appropriate.”  DeRolph 
v. State (1997), 78 Ohio St.3d 419, 422, 678 N.E.2d 886, 888-889 (Moyer, C.J., 
concurring in part and dissenting in part).  The state’s contention is not compatible 
with the prior orders of the court and is therefore rejected. 
 
It is undoubtedly true that DeRolph is not an original action in this court as 
that term is traditionally used.  The case originated in the Common Pleas Court of 
Perry County and we ultimately accepted jurisdiction.  However, at this stage of the 
proceedings, DeRolph is not a traditional appeal, in which the court has a previously 
established record available for review.  Rather, DeRolph has become a hybrid that 
will require this court to engage both in factfinding and application of law to those 
facts to determine whether the state has complied with prior orders of this court. 
 
But before the court can determine whether the state’s funding system now is 
constitutional, the parties must establish a record of events that have occurred since 
DeRolph II, and the likely effects that the legislation enacted in response to that 
decision will produce.  Because the court has not provided for a traditional 
evidentiary hearing involving examination and cross-examination of witnesses, that 
record must, by default, be created by other means, i.e., filed depositions, affidavits, 
documents, etc. 
 
The state contends that plaintiffs can adequately collect all the relevant 
evidence they might need using methods available to them by virtue of their being 
members of the public, implying that plaintiffs can, for example, e.g., use R.C. 
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149.43, the Public Records Act.  The rules do not restrict the plaintiffs to that 
method, particularly given the fact that a majority of this court has twice found the 
state to have been deficient in meeting its constitutional responsibilities, and in view 
of the fact that the parties continue to be involved in civil litigation. 
 
The state further argues that the plaintiffs’ requests for discovery are 
unnecessarily broad and burdensome, and include requests for disclosure of 
privileged information.  We are not unsympathetic to the state’s position.  However, 
the state must, at a minimum, respond and, if necessary, frame any issues regarding 
the legitimacy of specific discovery requests by way of objection, as provided for in 
the Civil Rules. 
 
The plaintiffs have represented to us that they are “more than willing to sit 
down with the State to discuss what the State can produce, when it can be produced, 
and when depositions can be taken.”  We urge the parties to cooperate with each 
other now in order to avoid the need for further involvement of the court during the 
short discovery period that remains. 
 
If, however, the state and the plaintiffs cannot reach agreement as to the 
conduct of discovery, ultimately this court may be called upon to finally resolve 
those disagreements.  Accordingly, and unfortunately, the potential exists that 
application of the discovery provisions contained in the Rules of Civil Procedure 
could hinder rather than expedite a prompt resolution of this case. 
 
As previously observed, DeRolph remains “a unique case in which a unique 
remedy was ordered.”  State ex rel. Taft v. Franklin Cty. Court of Common Pleas 
(1998), 81 Ohio St.3d 1244, 1245, 691 N.E.2d 677. The merit issue is now the law 
of the case as established by the majority. 
 
All participants in this long-lived litigation, including the parties, their 
counsel, and the courts, should do everything in their power to achieve a final 
resolution.  “If the parties affected by the decision of this court act responsibly and 
expeditiously to comply with the order of the court, we have a corresponding duty, 
January Term, 2001 
5 
in this extraordinary case, to provide a procedure by which this court can, as 
expeditiously as possible, determine whether the parties have complied with the 
order of March 24, 1997.”  DeRolph v. State, 78 Ohio St.3d at 423, 678 N.E.2d at 
889 (Moyer, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). 
So ordered. 
 
DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER and LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., 
concur. 
 
COOK, J., dissents. 
__________________ 
 
Bricker & Eckler, L.L.P., Nicholas A. Pittner, John F. Birath, Jr., Sue W. 
Yount, Quintin F. Lindsmith and Susan B. Greenberger, for appellees. 
 
Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, Mary Lynn Readey, Roger F. 
Carroll and James G. Tassie, Assistant Attorneys General, for appellants. 
__________________