Case Title: State ex rel. Baker v. Schiemann

Citation: 1993-Ohio-35

Docket Number: 19930908

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 1993-10-13T00:00:00Z

Document:
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Thomas J. Moyer.                                                                 
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The State ex rel. Baker, Appellant, v. Schiemann, Appellee.                      
[Cite as State ex rel. Baker v. Schiemann (1993),      Ohio                      
St.3d    .]                                                                      
Mandamus is not a substitute for appeal.                                         
     (No. 93-908 -- Submitted July 28, 1993 -- Decided                           
October 13, 1993.)                                                               
     Appeal from the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County, No.                   
65163.                                                                           
     Appellant, Saul P. Baker, M.D., is a pro se plaintiff in                    
an action pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga                       
County.  He contracted with appellee, attorney Jeffrey J.                        
Schiemann, to represent all plaintiffs in the case except                        
himself.  Appellant contends that he turned over to appellee                     
"thousands of pages" of documents appellant had prepared for                     
use in the case.  Subsequently, appellee filed a motion to                       
withdraw as counsel for all plaintiffs, which appellant opposed                  
because his documents had not been returned.  On January 11,                     
1993, the trial court granted appellee's motion to withdraw as                   
counsel.  On February  1, 1993, the court ordered appellee to                    
produce copies of the complete file in the case to appellant,                    
at appellant's costs.                                                            
     Appellant thereupon filed the instant complaint in                          
mandamus in the court of appeals to compel appellee to return                    
all of appellant's documents.  The court of appeals dismissed                    
the complaint sua sponte, finding that appellant had an                          
adequate remedy via appeal from the trial court's February 1993                  
order.                                                                           
     The cause is before this court upon an appeal as of right.                  
                                                                                 
     Saul P. Baker, M.D., pro se.                                                
     Jeffrey J. Schiemann, pro se.                                               
                                                                                 
     Per Curiam.  We affirm the judgment of the court of                         
appeals.  The trial court has ordered the relief appellant                       
seeks.  If he is dissatisfied, he may appeal.  Mandamus is not                   
a substitute for appeal.  State ex rel. Pressley v. Indus.                       
Comm. (1967), 11 Ohio St.2d 141, 40 O.O. 2d 141, 228 N.E.2d                      
631, paragraph three of the syllabus.                                            
                                    Judgment affirmed.                           
     Moyer, C.J., A.W. Sweeney, Douglas, Wright,  Resnick, F.E.                  
Sweeney and Pfeifer, JJ., concur.