Case Title: Mentor Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Edn. v. Mohat

Citation: 2011-Ohio-1421

Docket Number: 

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2011-03-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
Mentor Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Edn. v. Mohat, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-
1421.] 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2011-OHIO-1421 
MENTOR EXEMPTED VILLAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION ET AL. 
v. MOHAT ET AL. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as Mentor Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Edn. v. Mohat,  
Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-1421.] 
Certified question of state law dismissed as having been improvidently accepted. 
(No. 2010-0951 — Submitted February 16, 2011 — Decided March 30, 2011.) 
ON ORDER from the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, 
Eastern Division, Certifying a Question of State Law, No. 1:09 CV 688. 
__________________ 
{¶ 1} On May 27, 2010, the United States District Court, Northern 
District of Ohio, Eastern Division, certified the following question of state law to 
this court:  “Whether, under Ohio law an action filed on behalf of a decedent 
before an estate is legally established by someone who is not a legally appointed 
administrator or personal representative (i.e., is without the capacity to sue on the 
decedent’s behalf), are barred by the statute of limitations if later, after the 
running of the statute of limitations but before resolution of the claims, an estate 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
 
is legally established and an administrator or personal representative is duly 
appointed and named in the Complaint – or whether the formation of the estate 
and the appointment of the administrator relates back to the original filing of the 
claims?”  126 Ohio St.3d 1542, 2010-Ohio-3855, 932 N.E.2d 337.  On February 
16, 2011, we heard oral argument in this cause. 
{¶ 2} Sua sponte, we now conclude that the certified question of state 
law was improvidently accepted for review.  Accordingly, this cause is dismissed. 
 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
Britton, Smith, Peters & Kalail Co., L.P.A., David Kane Smith, Krista 
Keim, and Lindsay Ferg Gingo, for petitioners. 
 
Kenneth D. Myers, for respondents. 
Paul W. Flowers Co., L.P.A., and Paul W. Flowers; and Elk & Elk Co., 
Ltd., and Peter D. Traska, in support of respondents for amicus curiae Ohio 
Association for Justice. 
Zagrans Law Firm, L.L.C., and Eric H. Zagrans, in support of respondents 
for amicus curiae Nikki C. Hardy. 
______________________