Case Title: State ex rel. Myers v. Brown

Citation: 2000-Ohio-478

Docket Number: 19991420

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2000-01-19T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as State ex rel. Myers v. Brown, 87 Ohio St.3d 545, 2000-Ohio-478.] 
 
 
 
 
 
THE STATE EX REL. MYERS v. BROWN, CLERK-TREASURER. 
[Cite as State ex rel. Myers v. Brown (2000), 87 Ohio St.3d 545.] 
Public employment — Quo warranto to oust respondent from office of village of 
Agler Clerk-Treasurer and to declare that relator is entitled to the office — 
Limited writ to oust respondent granted but appointment to office denied. 
(No. 99-1420 — Submitted December 15, 1999 — Decided January 19, 2000.) 
IN QUO WARRANTO. 
 
The village of Alger, Ohio, is a noncharter municipal corporation organized 
under the general statutory form of village government.  Alger has a combined 
office of clerk-treasurer.  In August 1998, the Alger Clerk-Treasurer resigned, and 
the village received resumes from nine individuals who had applied for the 
position.  Relator, Paul D. Myers, a resident-elector of the village, and respondent, 
Jackie Brown, a nonresident-elector, were two of the applicants.  In addition to 
Myers, two other village residents applied. 
 
In October 1998, Alger Mayor Don Hensley appointed Brown to complete 
the unexpired term of clerk-treasurer.  At the time of Brown’s appointment, Myers 
had a pending lawsuit against the village that Mayor Hensley believed created a 
potential conflict of interest should Myers be appointed Alger Clerk-Treasurer.  
Brown remains a nonresident of the village.  According to Mayor Hensley, his 
 
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appointment of Brown was as an “acting” clerk-treasurer “until a permanent, 
qualified candidate” could be appointed. 
 
In 1999, Myers filed this action for a writ of quo warranto  to oust Brown 
from the office of Alger Clerk-Treasurer and declare that Myers is entitled to the 
office.  After Brown filed a motion to dismiss, we granted an alternative writ. 
 
This cause is now before the court for a consideration of the merits. 
__________________ 
 
F. Stephen Chamberlain, for relator. 
 
Bradford W. Bailey, for respondent. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam.  Myers asserts that he is entitled to a writ of quo warranto.  For 
the reasons that follow, we hold that Myers is entitled to a limited writ to oust 
Brown from the office of Alger Clerk-Treasurer. 
 
“A person claiming to be entitled to a public office unlawfully held and 
exercised by another may bring an action therefor by himself or an attorney at law, 
upon giving security for costs.”  R.C. 2733.06.  In order to prevail completely in a 
quo warranto action, a relator must establish (1) that the office is being unlawfully 
held and exercised by respondent and (2) that relator is entitled to the office.  State 
ex rel. Delph v. Barr (1989), 44 Ohio St.3d 77, 541 N.E.2d 59, syllabus; State ex 
rel. Brenders v. Hall (1995), 71 Ohio St.3d 632, 633-634, 646 N.E.2d 822, 824. 
 
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Brown contends that she is lawfully holding the office because the mayor 
appointed her clerk-treasurer under R.C. 733.31(A), which provides that “[i]n the 
event of a vacancy in the office of village clerk or treasurer, the mayor may 
appoint a person to serve as an acting officer to perform the duties of the office 
until a permanent officer is appointed to fill the vacancy.”  R.C. 733.68 specifies 
that “[e]xcept as otherwise provided by the Revised Code each officer of a 
municipal corporation, or of any department or board thereof, whether elected or 
appointed as a substitute for a regular officer, shall be an elector of the municipal 
corporation * * *.”  (Emphasis added.) 
 
Although Brown concedes that she is neither an elector nor a resident of 
Alger, she claims that the mayor was authorized to appoint a nonelector as clerk-
treasurer on a temporary basis.  But contrary to Brown’s claims, these statutes do 
not permit the village mayor to appoint a nonelector as clerk-treasurer when the 
appointment is temporary rather than permanent. 
 
In interpreting a statute, we must first examine its express terms.  Freedom 
Rd. Found. v. Ohio Dept. of Liquor Control (1997), 80 Ohio St.3d 202, 206, 685 
N.E.2d 522, 525.  It is the duty of the court to give effect to the words used and not 
to insert words not used.  State ex rel. Cuyahoga Cty. v. State Personnel Bd. of 
Review (1998), 82 Ohio St.3d 496, 499, 696 N.E.2d 1054, 1056. 
 
R.C. 733.68 manifestly requires that an appointed or elected clerk-treasurer 
 
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be an elector of the municipal corporation and does not differentiate between either 
a provisional or a permanent appointment.  See, also, 1 Gotherman & Babbit, Ohio 
Municipal Law (2 Ed.1992) 151, Section 9.06(B).  Nothing in R.C. 733.31(A), 
which authorizes the appointment of acting officers, provides otherwise, and R.C. 
733.261(B) also mandates that “[t]he clerk-treasurer shall be an elector of the 
municipal corporation.” 
 
Therefore, Myers has established that Brown, a nonelector of the village, is 
unlawfully holding and exercising the office of clerk-treasurer. 
 
Brown nevertheless claims that we should deny the writ because Myers has 
not established the second general requirement for extraordinary relief in quo 
warranto, i.e., that he is entitled to the office.  We agree with Brown that Myers 
has not established his entitlement to be appointed clerk-treasurer.  Myers was not 
the only resident who applied for the office of clerk-treasurer, and Mayor Hensley 
did not have any duty to appoint Myers to that office. 
 
But Myers’s failure to establish his entitlement to be appointed clerk-
treasurer does not preclude a writ of quo warranto.  If a relator in a quo warranto 
proceeding fails to establish entitlement to the office, judgment may still be 
rendered on the issue of whether respondent lawfully holds the disputed office.  
Delph, supra, 44 Ohio St.3d at 80, 541 N.E.2d at 62; State ex rel. Ethell v. 
Hendricks (1956), 165 Ohio St. 217, 226-227, 59 O.O. 298, 303-304, 135 N.E.2d 
 
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362, 368.  Myers proved that Brown is not lawfully holding and exercising the 
office of clerk-treasurer. 
 
Based on the foregoing, we grant Myers a writ of quo warranto solely to 
remove Brown from the office of Alger Clerk-Treasurer.  We deny the writ insofar 
as Myers requests his appointment to that office. 
Writ granted in part 
and denied in part. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, COOK and 
LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur.