Case Title: Columbus City Schools Bd. of Educ. v. Testa

Citation: 2011-Ohio-2907

Docket Number: 20101094

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2011-06-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Testa, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-2907.] 
 
 
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-2907 
COLUMBUS CITY SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION, APPELLANT  
AND CROSS-APPELLEE, v. TESTA, TAX COMMR., APPELLEE AND  
CROSS-APPELLANT, ET AL., APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Testa,  
Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-2907.] 
Failure to provide notice to a party — Cause remanded to the Board of Tax 
Appeals. 
(No. 2010-1094 — Submitted March 22, 2011 — Decided June 23, 2011.) 
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals, No. 2009-V-4110. 
ON JOINT MOTION TO VACATE AND REMAND. 
__________________ 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} This cause is pending before the court as an appeal from the Board 
of Tax Appeals.  The parties have filed a joint motion to vacate and remand on the 
authority of MB West Chester, L.L.C. v. Butler Cty. Bd. of Revision, 126 Ohio 
St.3d 430, 2010-Ohio-3781, 934 N.E.2d 928.  Upon consideration of the BTA 
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decision, the record in this case, and the relevant statutes and case law, we 
conclude that the holding of MB West Chester applies to the circumstances before 
us.  Accordingly, we grant the motion. 
{¶ 2} The facts as recited by the BTA and the record in this case show 
that the German Village Society, Inc. (“GVS”) filed an application for exemption 
of real property on July 15, 2003 for the 2003 tax year.  During the proceedings 
on that application, appellant and cross-appellee Columbus City Schools Board of 
Education (“school board”) gave notice to the tax commissioner pursuant to R.C. 
5715.27(C).  Under that statute, the school board thereby became a party as a 
matter of law not only to the proceedings before the tax commissioner but also to 
any appeal to the BTA from the tax commissioner’s determination.  That fact was 
noted in the commissioner’s final determination. 
{¶ 3} The tax commissioner denied GVS’s application in a final 
determination dated August 14, 2006, and GVS appealed to the BTA, thereby 
initiating BTA No. 2006-V-1356.  Despite the school board’s status as party, it is 
undisputed that GVS did not serve the school board with its notice of appeal.  
Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Levin (May 25, 2010), BTA No. 2009-V-
4110 (“Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn.”), at 3. 
{¶ 4} On August 18, 2009, the BTA issued its decision in BTA No. 
2006-V-1356.  In that decision, the BTA reversed the decision of the tax 
commissioner and granted the exemption.  German Village Soc., Inc. v. Levin 
(Aug. 18, 2009), BTA No. 2006-V-1356.  The BTA did not transmit its decision 
to the school board as required by R.C. 5717.03(C).  Columbus City Schools Bd. 
of Edn., at 3. 
{¶ 5} On October 26, 2009, the tax commissioner issued a determination 
giving effect to the BTA’s decision in BTA No. 2006-V-1356.  In connection 
with the issuance of that order, the school board apparently learned for the first 
time about the decision in BTA No. 2006-V-1356.  On December 21, 2009, the 
January Term, 2011 
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school board filed a notice of appeal from the October 26 order of the tax 
commissioner.  Both the August 18, 2009 decision of the BTA and the October 
26, 2009 order were attached to the notice of appeal, and in the notice the school 
board asserted in part that the BTA’s August 18, 2009 decision and order was 
“void ab initio because the [school board] was never named or notified as to the 
existence of the appeal.”  Columbus City Schools Bd. of Edn., at 3. 
{¶ 6} On May 25, 2010, the BTA issued its decision in No. 2009-V-
4110.  As its primary holding, the BTA addressed the contention of the school 
board that the August 18, 2009 decision in BTA No. 2006-V-1356 was void and 
held that it had no jurisdiction to address the validity of its earlier decision 
because the period for appeal from that decision had expired. 
{¶ 7} Under MB West Chester, that holding was erroneous.  Just as in 
MB West Chester, the school board in this case had a right to be notified of the 
proceedings and decision in BTA No. 2006-V-1356, to which it was a party by 
operation of law, but GVS did not serve its notice of appeal on the school board.  
Most significantly, the school board had an explicit statutory right to receive 
notice from the BTA of the BTA’s decision in that case pursuant to R.C. 
5717.03(C), but the BTA did not transmit its decision as required.  Under MB 
West Chester, the failure of notice at both stages means that the BTA’s 
jurisdiction to entertain a motion to vacate the August 18, 2009 decision had not 
expired at the time that the school board filed its notice on December 21, 2009, 
which requested that the BTA vacate the earlier decision.  The school board’s 
notice of appeal to the BTA in the present case specifically asked for a ruling that 
the BTA’s August 18, 2009 decision was jurisdictionally defective. 
{¶ 8} Accordingly, we reverse the BTA’s holding that it had no 
jurisdiction to grant any relief to the school board.  Additionally, we vacate the 
BTA’s decision dated August 18, 2009 in BTA No. 2006-V-1356 along with the 
tax commissioner’s related order dated October 26, 2009.  We remand this cause 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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to the BTA for further proceedings concerning GVS’s exemption application, and 
the school board shall have the right to participate as a party in those proceedings.  
The proceedings after remand shall go forward in BTA No. 2006-V-1356 as well 
as in BTA No. 2009-V-4110. 
Judgment accordingly. 
 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
Rich & Gillis Law Group, L.L.C., and Mark H. Gillis, for appellant and 
cross-appellee. 
 
Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Alan Schwepe, Assistant 
Attorney General, for appellee and cross-appellant. 
 
Jones Law Office and Robyn R. Jones; and Schottenstein, Zox & Dunn 
Co., L.P.A., and Elden J. Hoppel, for appellee, German Village Society, Inc. 
______________________