Title: Stevens v. Ackman

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Cite as Stevens v. Ackman, 91 Ohio St.3d 182, 2001-Ohio-249.] 
 
 
Stevens, Appellant, v. Ackman et al.; City of Middletown, Appellee. 
[Cite as Stevens v. Ackman (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 182.] 
Torts — Wrongful death — Appellate procedure — Final order — Trial court 
order entered in a civil action for damages seeking recovery for a 
wrongful death is not an order entered in a special proceeding for 
purposes of R.C. 2505.02 — Political subdivision tort liability — R.C. 
2744.02(C), as purportedly enacted in 1996 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, is 
invalid. 
(Nos. 00-225 and 00-513 — Submitted November 29, 2000 — Decided March 
28, 2001.) 
APPEAL from and CERTIFIED by the Court of Appeals for Butler County, No. 
CA99-03-0053. 
__________________ 
SYLLABUS OF THE COURT 
1.  A trial court order entered in a civil action for damages seeking recovery for a 
wrongful death is not an order entered in a special proceeding for purposes 
of R.C. 2505.02. 
2.  R.C. 2744.02(C), as purportedly enacted in 1996 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, is 
invalid.  R.C. 2744.02(C) was neither enacted nor reenacted by 1997 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215.  (State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. 
Sheward [1999], 86 Ohio St.3d 451, 715 N.E.2d 1062, paragraph three of 
the syllabus, and Hubbard v. Canton City School Bd. of Edn. [2000], 88 
Ohio St.3d 14, 722 N.E.2d 1025, followed.) 
__________________ 
 
ALICE ROBIE RESNICK, J. 
I 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
Facts and Procedural History 
 
On December 16, 1994, seventeen-year-old Corey C. Banks died in an 
automobile accident on Roosevelt Avenue (also called Roosevelt Road) in 
Middletown, Ohio.  Banks was a passenger in an automobile operated by Emily J. 
Duff, now known as Emily J. Ackman, a classmate of his at Middletown High 
School.  Duff’s vehicle went left of center in a heavy rain and collided with an 
oncoming vehicle.  When police arrived at the scene, Banks was dead. 
 
On December 13, 1996, plaintiff-appellant Shira Sue Stevens (the mother 
of Banks and the administrator of his estate) filed a complaint against Ackman 
and appellee, the city of Middletown, in the Butler County Court of Common 
Pleas, alleging that they were responsible for the wrongful death of Banks.  
Stevens asserted that Middletown was liable for Banks’s death for its failure to 
properly maintain Roosevelt Road, including allowing an unsafe pavement edge 
drop to exist on the side of the road, which caused Ackman to lose control of her 
vehicle when she attempted to return it to the roadway after it had dropped off the 
pavement edge.  Stevens alleged that Middletown breached its duty to maintain 
Roosevelt Road open, in repair, and free from nuisance, and that the roadway was 
unsafe. 
 
Middletown moved for summary judgment pursuant to R.C. Chapter 2744, 
the Political Subdivision Tort Liability Act, claiming that it was entitled to 
statutory immunity and that Stevens was unable to prevail against it as a matter of 
law.  Middletown argued that the exception to political subdivision immunity 
found in R.C. 2744.02(B)(3) (“political subdivisions are liable for injury, death, or 
loss to persons or property caused by their failure to keep public roads * * * open, 
in repair, and free from nuisance”) was not applicable in the circumstances of this 
case to defeat its immunity. 
 
The trial court denied the motion for summary judgment, relying on this 
court’s decisions in Dickerhoof v. Canton (1983), 6 Ohio St.3d 128, 6 OBR 186, 
January Term, 2001 
3 
451 N.E.2d 1193; Manufacturer’s Natl. Bank of Detroit v. Erie Cty. Rd. Comm. 
(1992), 63 Ohio St.3d 318, 322, 587 N.E.2d 819, 823; and Franks v. Lopez 
(1994), 69 Ohio St.3d 345, 632 N.E.2d 502, to conclude that the alleged failure of 
the city to eliminate the edge drop on Roosevelt Road was potentially a failure to 
keep the roadway free from nuisance pursuant to the exception to immunity under 
R.C. 2744.02(B)(3).  The trial court specifically rejected Middletown’s argument 
that the city could be liable only for the failure to maintain the actual roadway 
itself, so that there could be no liability because the shoulder or berm of Roosevelt 
Road was not the roadway. 
 
The trial court also found that there were issues of fact as to whether 
Middletown had notice of the condition, and further that there was no merit to 
Middletown’s contention that the defense for discretionary decisions contained in 
R.C. 2744.03(A)(5) was applicable.  The trial court determined that the city had 
failed to meet its burden in support of the motion and that genuine issues of 
material fact remained to be determined. 
 
Middletown appealed the denial of its summary judgment motion to the 
Court of Appeals for Butler County, initially relying on R.C. 2744.02(C):  “An 
order that denies a political subdivision or an employee of a political subdivision 
the benefit of an alleged immunity from liability as provided in Chapter 2744. or 
any other provision of the law is a final order.” 
 
After the parties had briefed the appeal on the merits, Stevens filed a 
motion to dismiss the appeal on August 10, 1999, primarily arguing that R.C. 
2744.02(C) was not retroactive to apply to a case arising from a death that 
occurred in 1994.  Stevens also argued that the order appealed from was not a 
final order because it was taken from a trial court ruling on issues of fact, not of 
law, and further argued that the failure of the trial court to determine in its order 
that there was “no just reason for delay” deprived the court of appeals of 
jurisdiction.  See Civ.R. 54(B). 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
4 
 
Before the court of appeals ruled on that motion to dismiss, this court, on 
August 16, 1999, announced the decision in State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial 
Lawyers v. Sheward (1999), 86 Ohio St.3d 451, 715 N.E.2d 1062.  On August 25, 
1999, Stevens filed a second motion in the court of appeals to dismiss the appeal, 
again urging that the court of appeals was without jurisdiction to entertain 
Middletown’s appeal.  Stevens argued that because R.C. 2744.02(C) was enacted 
in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 (“H.B. 350”), and because this court’s opinion in 
Sheward, at paragraph three of the syllabus, had declared H.B. 350 to be 
“unconstitutional in toto,” there was no basis for the court of appeals to maintain 
jurisdiction over the appeal. 
 
Middletown responded to Stevens’s second motion to dismiss by arguing 
that, as an alternate ground for its appeal, the court of appeals had jurisdiction 
over the order pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B)(2) as an order that affected a 
substantial right made in a special proceeding, or pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B)(4) 
as an order that denied a provisional remedy.  Middletown also argued that the 
lack of Civ.R. 54(B) certification by the trial court did not deprive the court of 
appeals of jurisdiction. 
 
In its opinion, the court of appeals denied both of Stevens’s motions to 
dismiss.  The court of appeals found that it had jurisdiction over the appeal 
pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B)(2), finding that the trial court order denying statutory 
immunity affected a “substantial right” and was entered in a “special proceeding,” 
and so denied Stevens’s second motion to dismiss for that reason.  The court of 
appeals found that the underlying action was a “civil claim for wrongful death and 
survivorship,” both of which were unknown at common law and “did not exist in 
law or equity prior to 1853,” so that a special proceeding was involved within the 
meaning of R.C. 2505.02(A)(2). 
 
The court of appeals therefore did not specifically rule on Stevens’s 
argument, raised within her second motion to dismiss, that it had no jurisdiction 
January Term, 2001 
5 
pursuant to R.C. 2744.02(C) in the wake of the Sheward decision.  Furthermore, 
because it based its jurisdiction on R.C. 2505.02(B)(2), the court of appeals 
denied Stevens’s first motion to dismiss, relating to retroactivity of R.C. 
2744.02(C), as moot. 
 
After thus finding Middletown’s appeal properly before it, the court of 
appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court on the merits and entered 
summary judgment in favor of Middletown, finding that the municipality was 
entitled to political subdivision immunity.  The court of appeals held as a matter 
of law that the edge drop at issue did not constitute a nuisance within the meaning 
of R.C. 2744.02(B)(3), so that Middletown could not be liable for an alleged 
failure to keep the roadway free from nuisance. 
 
Finding its judgment on the merits issue to be in conflict with the 
judgment of the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Thompson v. Muskingum Cty. 
Bd. of Commrs. (Nov. 12, 1998), Muskingum App. No. CT98-0010, unreported, 
1998 WL 817826, the court of appeals granted Stevens’s motion to certify a 
conflict.  The issue certified is “whether an edge drop on the berm of a county or 
city road, in and of itself, constitutes a nuisance within the meaning of R.C. 
2744.02(B)(3).”  In Thompson, the Fifth District Court of Appeals found that 
whether the edge drop between the pavement and the berm is a nuisance for 
purposes of R.C. 2744.02(B)(3) is a factual question, relying on Dickerhoof, 6 
Ohio St.3d 128, 6 OBR 186, 451 N.E.2d 1193.  Thus, the court of appeals in 
Thompson refused to adopt the position adopted by the court of appeals in the 
case sub judice, which is that an edge drop cannot be a “nuisance” as that term is 
used in R.C. 2744.02(B)(3). 
 
Stevens also moved the court of appeals to certify a conflict on the issue of 
whether, in the wake of the Sheward decision, a court of appeals has jurisdiction 
pursuant to R.C. 2744.02(C) to hear an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
6 
political subdivision’s summary judgment motion based upon statutory immunity.  
The court of appeals declined to certify a conflict on that issue. 
 
The cause is now before this court upon our determination that a conflict 
exists on the edge-drop issue (case No. 00-513), and pursuant to the allowance of 
a discretionary appeal (case No. 00-225). 
II 
Appellate Court Jurisdiction 
A 
Standards for Appealability 
 
Section 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution limits the appellate 
jurisdiction of the courts of appeals to the review of judgments and final orders of 
lower courts.  Section 3(B)(2), Article IV provides: 
 
“Courts of appeals shall have such jurisdiction as may be provided by law 
to review and affirm, modify, or reverse judgments or final orders of the courts of 
record inferior to the court of appeals within the district and shall have such 
appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law to review and affirm, modify, or 
reverse final orders or actions of administrative officers or agencies.” 
 
The initial issue for resolution, as a prerequisite to any consideration of the 
merits of this case, is whether the trial court order denying Middletown’s motion 
for summary judgment premised on immunity under R.C. Chapter 2744 was a 
final appealable order.  If this order was not a final appealable order, the court of 
appeals was without jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, and should have 
dismissed it without reaching the merits. 
 
The denial of a motion for summary judgment generally is considered an 
interlocutory order not subject to immediate appeal.  See Celebrezze v. Netzley 
(1990), 51 Ohio St.3d 89, 90, 554 N.E.2d 1292, 1293-1294.  See, also, State ex 
rel. Overmeyer v. Walinski (1966), 8 Ohio St.2d 23, 37 O.O.2d 358, 222 N.E.2d 
312.  In this case, Middletown argues that at least one exception to this general 
January Term, 2001 
7 
rule applies, so that the trial court order at issue was subject to an immediate 
appeal. 
B 
Appealability Pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B) 
 
The court of appeals in this case specifically determined that R.C. 
2505.02(B)(2) provided the basis for appellate jurisdiction.  Therefore, we first 
consider the propriety of that determination. 
 
R.C. 2505.02(B) provides that “[a]n order is a final order that may be 
reviewed, affirmed, modified, or reversed, with or without retrial, when it is one 
of the following: 
 
“ * * * 
 
“(2) An order that affects a substantial right made in a special proceeding 
* * *.” 
 
R.C. 2505.02(A)(1) defines “substantial right” as “a right that the United 
States Constitution, the Ohio Constitution, a statute, the common law, or a rule of 
procedure entitles a person to enforce or protect.” 
 
R.C. 2505.02(A)(2) defines “special proceeding” as “an action or 
proceeding that is specially created by statute and that prior to 1853 was not 
denoted as an action at law or a suit in equity.” 
 
In Polikoff v. Adam (1993), 67 Ohio St.3d 100, 108, 616 N.E.2d 213, 218, 
fn. 8, this court noted that in considering whether a particular order affected a 
substantial right in a special proceeding, the reviewing court’s analysis first 
focuses on the special proceeding portion of the inquiry.  Only if it is first 
determined that an order was entered in a special proceeding is it necessary to go 
on to consider whether the order affected a substantial right. 
 
This court held in Polikoff, at the syllabus, that “[o]rders that are entered 
in actions that were recognized at common law or in equity and were not specially 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
8 
created by statute are not orders entered in special proceedings pursuant to R.C. 
2505.02.” 
 
In Polikoff, 67 Ohio St.3d at 104, 616 N.E.2d at 216, this court quoted 
from Missionary Soc. of M.E. Church v. Ely (1897), 56 Ohio St. 405, 407, 47 N.E. 
537, 538:  “[A]ny ordinary proceedings in a court of justice, by which a party 
prosecutes another for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or 
prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense, involving the 
process and pleadings, and ending in a judgment, is an action, while every 
proceeding other than an action, where a remedy is sought by an original 
application to a court for a judgment or an order, is a special proceeding.” 
 
Furthermore, Polikoff, 67 Ohio St.3d at 105, 616 N.E.2d at 216, quoted In 
re Estate of Wyckoff (1957), 166 Ohio St. 354, 358, 2 O.O.2d 257, 260, 142 
N.E.2d 660, 663-664, which in turn had quoted Schuster v. Schuster (1901), 84 
Minn. 403, 407, 87 N.W. 1014-1015, for the proposition that “ ‘“[w]here the law 
confers a right, and authorizes a special application to a court to enforce it, the 
proceeding is special, within the ordinary meaning of the term ‘special 
proceedings.’ ” ’ ” 
 
The Polikoff court, 67 Ohio St.3d at 105, 616 N.E.2d at 216, went on to 
again quote Wyckoff, 166 Ohio St. at 358, 2 O.O.2d at 260, 142 N.E.2d at 664, 
with approval:  “ ‘[T]he proceeding provided by [the statute at issue], in 
connection with which a petition and no other pleadings are required and wherein 
there is notice only, without service of summons, and which represents essentially 
an independent judicial inquiry, is a special proceeding.’ ” 
 
In Walters v. The Enrichment Ctr. of Wishing Well, Inc. (1997), 78 Ohio 
St.3d 118, 121, 676 N.E.2d 890, 893, this court clarified the syllabus paragraph of 
Polikoff:  “The determining factor of Polikoff is whether the ‘action’ was 
recognized at common law or in equity and not whether the ‘order’ was so 
January Term, 2001 
9 
recognized.  In making the determination courts need look only at the underlying 
action.” 
 
For our purposes here, the key term in this statement is that the underlying 
action must be the focus of the inquiry. 
 
The court of appeals below, in ruling that a case seeking recovery for a 
wrongful death is a special proceeding, did not adequately address what the true 
“underlying action” was in the case before it, and so reached its conclusion 
through an analysis that strayed from the correct focus of the inquiry.  This case, 
although it includes claims for wrongful death and survival claims, is an ordinary 
civil action seeking damages for purposes of R.C. 2505.02.  The fact that a case 
involves an alleged wrongful death does not transform it into a special 
proceeding. 
 
R.C. Chapter 2125 is commonly denominated under the heading “Action 
for Wrongful Death.”  See heading to R.C. Chapter 2125 in both Baldwin’s Ohio 
Revised Code Annotated and Page’s Ohio Revised Code Annotated.  The “action” 
referred to in this sense is a civil action for damages.  It is apparent that R.C. 
Chapter 2125 does not give rise to a special proceeding in the sense that that term 
is used in Ely, Schuster, Wyckoff, and Polikoff.  R.C. Chapter 2125 does not 
provide for a remedy to be sought through “an original application to a court for a 
judgment or an order” (Ely, 56 Ohio St. at 407, 47 N.E. at 538), it does not 
authorize “a special application to a court to enforce” a right (Schuster, 84 Minn. 
at 407, 87 N.W. at 1015), and it does not provide for what is “essentially an 
independent judicial inquiry” (Wyckoff, 166 Ohio St. at 358, 2 O.O.2d at 260, 142 
N.E.2d at 664). 
 
R.C. Chapter 2125 details measures for pursuing a wrongful-death 
recovery within an ordinary action for money damages.  R.C. 2125.01 provides 
that someone who causes the wrongful death of another “shall be liable to an 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
10 
action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured.”1  This 
provision does not “specially create” an action or proceeding that was not 
recognized at common law or in equity within the meaning of Polikoff or of R.C. 
2505.02(A)(2).  Thus, it does not establish the requirements that would be 
necessary for a case involving a wrongful death to be a special proceeding.  In the 
same way, no other provision within R.C. Chapter 2125 establishes the necessary 
requirements. 
 
When a court considers whether a particular statute specially creates an 
action or proceeding that may qualify as a special proceeding for purposes of R.C. 
2505.02, the court must pointedly examine the basic core of the statute at issue.  
The court must specifically ask whether the particular statute actually does create 
a special proceeding, or whether the statute merely supplies details within the 
structure of an ordinary action. 
 
If an action has the characteristics of an ordinary action it does not qualify 
as a special proceeding.  See Polikoff, 67 Ohio St.3d at 107, 616 N.E.2d at 218:  
“[Plaintiffs] sought redress of an alleged wrong by filing a lawsuit in the court of 
common pleas.  * * *  The underlying action can be distinguished from a special 
proceeding in that it provides for an adversarial hearing on the issues of fact and 
law which arise from the pleadings and which will result in a judgment for the 
prevailing party.”  See, also, Walters, 78 Ohio St.3d at 122, 676 N.E.2d at 893:  
“In the case sub judice, the underlying action was an ordinary civil action, seeking 
damages.  It was recognized at common law and hence was not a special 
proceeding.” 
                                                          
 
1 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 attempted to amend R.C. 2125.01.  However, we do not identify the 
statute as “former,” because H.B. 350 was declared unconstitutional in its entirety in Sheward, 
which had the effect of invalidating the amendment to R.C. 2125.01.  See Harp v. Cleveland Hts. 
(2000), 87 Ohio St.3d 506, 509, 721 N.E.2d, 1020, 1023, fn. 1. 
January Term, 2001 
11 
 
As in both Polikoff and Walters, the order at issue in this case was not 
entered in a special proceeding.  The “underlying action” is an ordinary civil suit 
for damages, which of course was known at common law. 
 
Although we have focused on the consideration that the true underlying 
action in this case was recognized at common law, there is another aspect of R.C. 
2505.02 and Polikoff that indicates that the trial court order in this case was not 
entered in a special proceeding.  Both R.C. 2505.02(A)(2) and Polikoff’s syllabus 
paragraph require that a special proceeding be one “specially created by statute.”  
(Emphasis added.) 
 
In Thompson v. Wing (1994), 70 Ohio St.3d 176, 181, 637 N.E.2d 917, 
921, a majority of this court, by quoting Griffiths v. Earl of Dudley (1882), 9 
Q.B.Div. 357, 363, seemed to accept, at least by implication, that R.C. Chapter 
2125 does not “ ‘give any new cause of action, but only substitute[s] the right of 
the representative to sue in the place of the right which the deceased himself 
would have had if he had survived.’ ”  See Thompson, 70 Ohio St.3d at 186, 637 
N.E.2d at 925 (Douglas, J., concurring in judgment). 
 
Therefore, the explicit requirement that a special proceeding be “specially 
created by statute” does not appear to be fulfilled in this case, as R.C. Chapter 
2125 does not create a right of action for wrongful death. 
 
Also, there is a further obstacle to a wrongful-death action being a special 
proceeding, separate from those discussed above.  R.C. 2505.02(A)(2) requires 
that for a proceeding to be special, it must be one “that prior to 1853 was not 
denoted as an action at law or a suit in equity.”  Ohio’s first wrongful-death 
statute, as this state’s version of what is commonly called Lord Campbell’s Act, 
was enacted in 1851.  See 49 Ohio Laws 117.  Today’s wrongful-death statute 
contains the essential provisions of the 1851 statute. 
 
Because a wrongful-death recovery was delineated by statute in 1851, an 
action for wrongful death was denoted as an action at law prior to 1853 for 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
12 
purposes of R.C. 2505.02(A)(2).  Hence the precise statutory definition of special 
proceeding is not met for that reason. 
 
Because we have found that there is no special proceeding at issue in this 
case, we need not specifically consider whether the order appealed from affected 
a substantial right.  See Polikoff, 67 Ohio St.3d at 108, 616 N.E.2d at 218, fn. 8. 
 
Having found that R.C. 2505.02(B)(2) does not confer jurisdiction on the 
court of appeals in this case, we further find that no other provision in R.C. 
2505.02(B) supports the appeal. 
 
For all the foregoing reasons, we hold that a trial court order entered in a 
civil action for damages seeking recovery for a wrongful death is not an order 
entered in a special proceeding for purposes of R.C. 2505.02.  We reverse the 
judgment of the court of appeals on this issue. 
 
Our conclusion that an order denying a motion for summary judgment in a 
civil action for damages involving a wrongful death is not an order entered in a 
special proceeding for purposes of R.C. 2505.02(B)(2) offers some consistency in 
an area of law that is frequently fraught with inexplicable discrepancies.  It would 
be anomalous to hold that such an order would not be a final order in a case 
involving a personal injury, but would be one in a case involving a wrongful 
death, when the actions are so similar and are conducted procedurally in much the 
same manner.  If a particular order is not appealable in a personal injury case, the 
same order should not be appealable in a wrongful-death case.  We emphasize 
that, to qualify as a special proceeding, a particular proceeding must have the 
characteristics that indicate that an independent judicial inquiry is taking place.  
These characteristics are not present in the case sub judice. 
C 
Appealability Pursuant to R.C. 2744.02(C) 
 
Because we have found that R.C. 2505.02(B) does not support appellate 
jurisdiction in this case, we proceed to consider whether R.C. 2744.02(C) 
January Term, 2001 
13 
provides an alternative ground for the court of appeals to exercise appellate 
jurisdiction. 
1 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 and the Ramifications of Sheward 
 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, 146 Ohio Laws, Part II, 3867, was signed into law 
by former Governor George Voinovich on October 28, 1996, and took effect on 
January 27, 1997.  Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 purported to amend, enact, or repeal 
“over one hundred sections of the Ohio Revised Code ‘relative to changes in the 
laws pertaining to tort and other civil actions.’ ”  See Sheward, 86 Ohio St.3d at 
458, 715 N.E.2d at 1073, fn. 6, quoting the title of the Act.  One of the purported 
new enactments of Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 was R.C. 2744.02(C), which provided 
that “[a]n order that denies a political subdivision or an employee of a political 
subdivision the benefit of an alleged immunity from liability as provided in 
Chapter 2744. or any other provision of the law is a final order.”  146 Ohio Laws, 
Part II, 3989. 
 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 also purported to amend R.C. 2501.02 to grant 
jurisdiction to courts of appeals “upon an appeal upon questions of law to review, 
affirm, modify, set aside, or reverse judgments or final orders of courts of record 
inferior to the court of appeals within the district, * * * INCLUDING AN 
ORDER DENYING A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OR AN EMPLOYEE OF A 
POLITICAL SUBDIVISION THE BENEFIT OF AN ALLEGED IMMUNITY 
FROM LIABILITY AS PROVIDED IN CHAPTER 2744. OR ANOTHER 
PROVISION OF THE REVISED CODE, for prejudicial error.”  Id. at 3982.  
(Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 purported to add the phrase capitalized above to the 
previous version of R.C. 2501.02 in effect at that time.) 
 
The reason we use the word “purported” in the above descriptions to refer 
to the legislative actions contained within Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 is that in 
Sheward, 86 Ohio St.3d 451, 715 N.E.2d 1062, at paragraph three of the syllabus, 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
14 
this court held that “Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 violates the one-subject provision of 
Section 15(D), Article II of the Ohio Constitution, and is unconstitutional in toto.”  
The one-subject rule holding reflected in paragraph three of the syllabus of 
Sheward was based on an “ancillary” claim raised in that case as part of relators’ 
attempt to have Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 declared unconstitutional in its entirety and 
to have its implementation enjoined.  See 86 Ohio St.3d at 452, 715 N.E.2d at 
1069. 
 
In Sheward, this court thus struck down all legislative action contained 
within Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, including the attempted enactment of R.C. 
2744.02(C) and the attempted amendment of R.C. 2501.02. 
 
After the decision in Sheward was announced, this court issued a series of 
entries in cases implicating R.C. 2744.02(C), resolving them on authority of 
Sheward, and indicating that the law regarding appealability of orders denying 
statutory immunity to political subdivisions and employees of political 
subdivisions had returned to the law that existed prior to Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350’s 
attempt to change it.  See, e.g., Burger v. Cleveland Hts. (1999), 87 Ohio St.3d 
188, 718 N.E.2d 912; Estate of Weitzel v. Cuyahoga Falls (1999), 87 Ohio St.3d 
200, 718 N.E.2d 921; Braden v. Cleveland Bd. of Edn. (1999), 87 Ohio St.3d 206, 
718 N.E.2d 924; Hubbard v. Canton City School Bd. of Edn. (2000), 88 Ohio 
St.3d 14, 722 N.E.2d 1025. 
2 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 and “Reenactment” 
 
In one of the cases mentioned above, Hubbard, two justices dissented 
from the entry vacating the opinion of the court of appeals for lack of a final 
appealable order.  In the Hubbard dissent, the following statement was made: 
 
“Whether the judgment of the trial court denying immunity is final and 
appealable depends on whether R.C. 2744.02(C) was validly reenacted by the 
General Assembly in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215, given that R.C. 2744.02(C) was 
January Term, 2001 
15 
declared unconstitutional as being part of Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350.  That is, if 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 validly reenacted this section, then the trial court’s decision 
denying immunity to the board of education would be final, and the jurisdiction of 
the court of appeals would not be questioned by this court.”  88 Ohio St.3d at 15, 
722 N.E.2d at 1026 (Cook, J., dissenting). 
 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215, effective June 30, 1997, contained an amendment 
to R.C. 2744.02(B)(2), which deals with the liability of political subdivisions for 
negligent acts by their employees with respect to proprietary functions.  The sole 
purpose of the amendment was to insert a reference to a statute (R.C. 3314.07) 
that was not previously mentioned within R.C. 2744.02(B)(2).  Am.Sub.H.B. No. 
215 made no other changes to R.C. 2744.02.2  147 Ohio Laws, Part I, 1149-1150. 
 
Section 15(D), Article II of the Ohio Constitution requires that “[n]o law 
shall be revived or amended unless the new act contains the entire act revived, or 
the section or sections amended, and the section or sections amended shall be 
repealed.” 
 
Consistent with this provision, Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215, in amending R.C. 
2744.02(B)(2), reprinted the entire version of R.C. 2744.02 thought to be in 
existence at the time, including R.C. 2744.02(C) as purportedly enacted in 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350. 
 
Middletown argues that, because Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 amended R.C. 
2744.02(B)(2) in compliance with the requirement of Section 15, Article II, the 
General Assembly thereby “enacted” an entirely new R.C. 2744.02 (including a 
new R.C. 2744.02[C]) in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215.  Middletown argues that, 
because Sheward found Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 unconstitutional, and therefore the 
version of R.C. 2744.02(C) that the bill attempted to enact unconstitutional as 
                                                          
 
2 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 made no changes to the version of R.C. 2501.02 purportedly in effect at 
the time after that statute’s attempted amendment by Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350. 
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16 
well, then R.C. 2744.02(C) was never truly “enacted” until Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 
enacted the statute, because everything in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 was a nullity. 
 
In a related vein, Middletown argues that, pursuant to Section 15, Article 
II, the General Assembly’s actions within Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 should be 
viewed as a “repeal” in its entirety of the version of R.C. 2744.02 believed to be 
in effect at the time.  According to this “reenactment” argument, the act therefore 
repealed the version of R.C. 2744.02(C) that this court found unconstitutional in 
Sheward, and replaced it with a later version of R.C. 2744.02(C) that was free of 
the constitutional infirmity that had caused Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 to be struck 
down in Sheward.  But, see, Simmons-Harris v. Goff (1999), 86 Ohio St.3d 1, 14-
17, 711 N.E.2d 203, 214-216. 
 
While the reenactment argument exposes an ambiguity and is plausible on 
its face, serious deficiencies in the argument emerge when its specifics are 
considered. 
3 
The Intent of the General Assembly 
 
The essential goal of statutory construction is to give effect to the intent of 
the General Assembly.  See Carter v. Youngstown (1946), 146 Ohio St. 203, 32 
O.O. 184, 65 N.E.2d 63, paragraph one of the syllabus.  The intent may be 
inferred from the particular wording the General Assembly has chosen to set forth 
the substantive terms of a statute.  See Wachendorf v. Shaver (1948), 149 Ohio St. 
231, 36 O.O. 554, 78 N.E.2d 370, paragraph five of the syllabus.  Intent may also 
be revealed in the procedural passage of the legislative act under consideration, 
when that body passes legislation that enacts, amends, or repeals a statute.  See 
State v. Wilson (1997), 77 Ohio St.3d 334, 336-337, 673 N.E.2d 1347, 1350; see, 
also, State ex rel. Durr v. Spiegel (1914), 91 Ohio St. 13, 22, 109 N.E. 523, 525; 
In re Hesse (1915), 93 Ohio St. 230, 235, 112 N.E. 511, 512 (both determining 
January Term, 2001 
17 
intent of General Assembly by considering the way the statute at issue was 
amended). 
 
Thus, for Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 to successfully enact or reenact R.C. 
2744.02(C), the General Assembly must have intended the act to have that effect.  
It is readily apparent that no such intent was present.  At the time Am.Sub.H.B. 
No. 215 was passed, the General Assembly had no reason to believe that the 
purported enactment of R.C. 2744.02(C), attempted a short time earlier in 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, would later be found to be unsuccessful.  It is clear that 
while the General Assembly intended to make a minor amendment in 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 to R.C. 2744.02(B), the General Assembly did not intend 
to take any action whatsoever with regard to R.C. 2744.02(C). 
 
R.C. 101.53 (formerly 101.52, see 1998 H.B. No. 649, 147 Ohio Laws, 
Part III, 5043), provides: 
 
“Bills shall be printed in the exact language in which they were passed, 
under the supervision of the clerk of the house in which they originated.  New 
matter shall be indicated by capitalization and old matter omitted by striking 
through such matter.  Prior capitalization in a Revised Code section shall be 
indicated by italicized type.” 
 
The editor’s comment in Baldwin’s Ohio Revised Code Annotated to 
Section 15, Article II of the Ohio Constitution makes some relevant comments 
regarding R.C. 101.53, and indicates a relationship between that statute and 
Section 15(D), Article II: 
 
“When amending a law or reviving a law previously repealed many 
legislative bodies include in the act only the desired amending language or words 
of revivor, which can be confusing because the language does not appear in 
context with the law amended or revived.  The General Assembly is prohibited 
from this practice by division (D) of this section, which also requires that the act 
repeal the amended section.  R.C. 101.52 (now R.C. 101.53) provides devices for 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
18 
showing changes in context in the printed bill or act:  matter to be deleted is 
shown struck through, and new matter to be inserted is shown in capital letters.” 
 
The printing format of Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215 indicates no intent to reenact 
or enact R.C. 2744.02(C).  R.C. 2744.02(C) appears in the printed act in regular 
type, without the capitalization that would indicate new material pursuant to R.C. 
101.53. 
 
R.C. 1.54 provides:  “A statute which is reenacted or amended is intended 
to be a continuation of the prior statute and not a new enactment, so far as it is the 
same as the prior statute.”  In In re Hesse, 93 Ohio St. at 234, 112 N.E. at 512, 
this court stated: 
 
“Section 16 [now Section 15(D)], Article II of the Constitution, requires 
that where a law is amended, the new act shall contain the section or sections 
amended, and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed.  In 
compliance with this the general assembly, when it amended [the statute at issue], 
did repeal the section as it existed prior thereto.  It is to be remembered that the 
only change made in the statute was the addition of two classes of misdemeanors.  
The provisions contained in the act as amended which were in the original act are 
not considered as repealed and again reenacted, but are regarded as having been 
continuous and undisturbed by the amendatory act.  In re Allen [1915], 91 Ohio 
St. 315 [320-321, 110 N.E. 535, 537].” 
 
In Weil v. Taxicabs of Cincinnati, Inc. (1942), 139 Ohio St. 198, 206, 22 
O.O. 205, 208, 39 N.E.2d 148, 152, this court stated: 
 
“The courts have generally held, notwithstanding this [current Section 
15(D), Article II] and similar constitutional provisions, that where an act is 
amended, the part of the original act which remains unchanged is to be considered 
as having continued in force as the law from the time of its original enactment, 
and new portions as having become the law only at the time of the amendment.  
Black on Interpretation of Laws (2d Ed.) 579 and 582, Sections 168 and 169; 1 
January Term, 2001 
19 
Sutherland Statutory Construction (2d Ed.) 441 and 445, Sections 237 and 238; 
McKibben v. Lester [1859], 9 Ohio St. 627 [1859 WL 40]; State ex rel. 
McLaughlin v. City of Newark [1894], 57 N.J.L. 298, 30 A. 543. 
 
“The court in the last cited case says that ‘by observing the constitutional 
form of amending a section of a statute, the Legislature does not express an 
intention then to enact the whole section as amended, but only an intention then to 
enact the change which is indicated.  Any other rule of construction would surely 
introduce unexpected results and work great inconvenience.’ ”  See, also, In re 
Petition to Annex 320 Acres to the Village of S. Lebanon (1992), 64 Ohio St.3d 
585, 595, 597 N.E.2d 463, 470, citing In re Allen, 91 Ohio St. at 320-321, 110 
N.E. at 537, for the proposition that “when a statute is amended the part that 
remains unchanged is to be considered as having continued as the law from the 
time of its original enactment.” 
 
As the preceding discussion illustrates, Section 15(D), Article II sets out 
the form for the General Assembly to follow when amending a statute, but cases 
such as Hesse, Allen, and Weil explain the substantive significance of what is 
occurring, and give guidance for ascertaining the intent of the General Assembly 
when an amendment to a specific statute is contained within a particular act. 
 
In accordance with these precedents, it is apparent that R.C. 2744.02(C) 
continued forward as purportedly enacted in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, despite 
Middletown’s arguments based on Section 15(D), Article II.  Clearly, the General 
Assembly did not intend to reenact R.C. 2744.02(C) in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215.  
Therefore, that act neither reenacted nor enacted R.C. 2744.02(C).  When this 
court in Sheward struck down Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, it struck down the version 
of R.C. 2744.02(C) that Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 attempted to enact, and R.C. 
2744.02(C) remains invalid as a result of Sheward. 
 
For all the foregoing reasons, we hold that R.C. 2744.02(C), as 
purportedly enacted in Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350, is invalid.  Furthermore, R.C. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
20 
2744.02(C) was neither enacted nor reenacted by Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215.  
Sheward, 86 Ohio St.3d 451, 715 N.E.2d 1062, paragraph three of the syllabus, 
and Hubbard, 88 Ohio St.3d 14, 722 N.E.2d 1025, followed. 
III 
Conclusion 
 
Neither R.C. 2505.02(B) nor R.C. 2744.02(C) provided a valid basis for 
the court of appeals to exercise jurisdiction to entertain Middletown’s appeal.  
Therefore, the court of appeals should have dismissed the appeal without reaching 
the merits of this case.  Consequently, we vacate the decision of the court of 
appeals on the merits.  See Walters, 78 Ohio St.3d at 123, 676 N.E.2d at 894.  
Since the court of appeals was without jurisdiction to reach the merits of the 
appeal, we likewise may not reach the merits.3 
 
Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeals as to its jurisdiction is 
reversed, the judgment of the court of appeals on the merits of the appeal is 
vacated, and this cause is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. 
Judgment reversed 
and cause remanded. 
 
DOUGLAS, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER and LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur. 
 
MOYER, C.J., and LUNDBERG STRATTON, J., concur separately. 
 
MOYER, C.J., and COOK, J., concur in part. 
__________________ 
 
LUNDBERG STRATTON, J., concurring.  I reluctantly concur with the 
determination in Part II C of the majority opinion that R.C. 2744.02(C) was 
neither enacted nor reenacted by 1997 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215, because, based 
upon the format of the language of R.C. 2744.02 in H.B. 215, it was apparent that 
                                                          
 
3Haynes v. Franklin (Sept. 25, 2000), Warren App. No. CA2000-03-025, unreported, 2000 WL 
1371000, discretionary appeal and certified conflict allowed today, case Nos. 00-2004 and 00-
2141, presents this court with an opportunity to address the edge-drop issue on the merits. 
January Term, 2001 
21 
the General Assembly merely amended a section of the statute and did not enact 
or reenact a new law and repeal the old one.  No one has disputed the General 
Assembly’s authority to determine when issues involving immunity may be 
appealed.  Had the majority in State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. 
Sheward (1999), 86 Ohio St.3d 451, 715 N.E.2d 1062, merely severed those 
sections in 1996 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 350 that violated the one-subject rule, I believe 
that R.C. 2744.02(C) would have remained a valid enactment. 
 
I did not agree with the majority in Sheward that the bill in its entirety was 
unconstitutional.  In particular, I expressed the opinion that even if certain 
provisions violated the one-subject rule of the Constitution, those offending 
provisions should be severed without striking the entire Act.  Id. at 539, 715 
N.E.2d at 1128 (Lundberg Stratton, J., dissenting).  This case presents a perfect 
example of the chaos resulting from Sheward. 
 
The General Assembly clearly intended to provide a political subdivision 
or an employee of a political subdivision the ability to immediately appeal from 
an order that denied the benefit of an alleged immunity from liability and enacted 
R.C. 2744.02(C) as part of H.B. 350.  The city cites strong public policy in 
support of this law.  Nevertheless, with no analysis of the constitutional viability 
of R.C. 2744.02(C) itself, the statute was struck down in Sheward merely because 
it was part of the overall tort reform bill. 
 
Nevertheless, I am constrained to agree that, based upon the technical 
requirements in the bill-making process, R.C. 2744.02(C) was neither enacted nor 
reenacted by H.B. 215.  Therefore, I concur. 
 
MOYER, C.J., concurs in the foregoing concurring opinion. 
__________________ 
 
COOK, J., concurring in part.  I agree with the syllabus paragraphs and 
with most of the majority’s reasoning.  I respectfully disagree, however, with two 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
22 
points the majority suggests and with the majority’s characterization of the 
disposition of this case. 
 
First, the majority states that “in considering whether a particular order 
affected a substantial right in a special proceeding, the reviewing court’s analysis 
first focuses on the special proceeding portion of the inquiry.  Only if it is first 
determined that an order was entered in a special proceeding is it necessary to go 
on to consider whether the order affected a substantial right.”    To constitute a 
final appealable order under R.C. 2505.02(B)(2), the order at issue must be “[a]n 
order that affects a substantial right” and must have been “made in a special 
proceeding.”  Given that there is no statutory basis for the sequential inquiry set 
forth in dicta in Polikoff v. Adam (1993), 67 Ohio St.3d 100, 108, 616 N.E.2d 213, 
218, fn. 8, and again by the majority today, and given that the failure of either 
prong of the two-part inquiry would yield a resolution regarding appealability,  I 
conclude that a reviewing court may address either the substantial right inquiry or 
the special proceeding inquiry first. 
 
Second, in holding that this case involves an ordinary civil action for 
damages and not a special proceeding, the majority refers to the headings to R.C. 
Chapter 2125 contained in both Baldwin’s Ohio Revised Code Annotated and 
Page’s Ohio Revised Code Annotated.  But R.C. 1.01 provides that “Title, 
Chapter, and section headings and marginal General Code section numbers do not 
constitute any part of the law as contained in the ‘Revised Code.’ ”  One member 
of this court has explained the character of such headings as follows: 
 
“[H]eadings are publisher’s aids to the user of the code.  [They are not] 
part of the code; [they are not] official.  ‘In Ohio, the General Assembly does not 
assign official Revised Code headings, or taglines; they are written by the 
Publisher’s editorial staff.’  Baldwin’s Ohio Legislative Service (1994), User’s 
Guide, 4.  ‘Where new sections have been added to the Revised Code without 
official headings, descriptive headings have been supplied by the publisher’s 
January Term, 2001 
23 
editorial staff.’  Page’s Revised Code Annotated (1990), Preface, vi.”  Cosgrove 
v. Williamsburg of Cincinnati Mgt. Co., Inc. (1994), 70 Ohio St.3d 281, 286, 638 
N.E.2d 991, 995, fn. 1 (Resnick, J., concurring). 
 
Therefore, I decline to join this cumulative point of analysis. 
 
Finally, the procedural disposition of this case is redundant.  The majority 
reverses the court of appeals’ determination of its jurisdiction, vacates its order as 
to the merits of the underlying appeal, and remands the cause to the trial court for 
further proceedings.  This court has in the past most often merely vacated courts 
of appeals’ orders when no final appealable order exists.  See, e.g., Walters v. The 
Enrichment Ctr. of Wishing Well, Inc. (1997), 78 Ohio St.3d 118, 676 N.E.2d 
890; Hitchings v. Weese (1997), 77 Ohio St.3d 390, 674 N.E.2d 688; State v. 
Lambert (1994), 69 Ohio St.3d 356, 632 N.E.2d 511; State v. Crago (1990), 53 
Ohio St.3d 243, 559 N.E.2d 1353.  This is so because by vacating for want of 
jurisdiction the judgment of the court of appeals, we implicitly overturn that 
court’s determination regarding its jurisdiction.  Therefore, I believe that the 
correct disposition of this case is simply to vacate the judgment of the court of 
appeals and to remand this cause to the trial court for further proceedings. 
 
Accordingly, with the exception of the three foregoing points, I concur in 
the majority’s reasoning and consequent disposition of this cause. 
 
MOYER, C.J., concurs in the foregoing opinion. 
__________________ 
 
Ted L. Wills, Howard M. Schwartz and Marc D. Mezibov, for appellant. 
 
Robert J. Gehring and Leslie S. Landen, Middletown Law Director, for 
appellee. 
 
Arthur, O’Neil, Mertz & Bates Co., L.P.A., and Joseph W. O’Neil, urging 
reversal for amicus curiae Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers. 
 
John E. Gotherman, Barry M. Byron and Stephen L. Byron, urging 
affirmance for amicus curiae Ohio Municipal League. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
24 
 
Isaac, Brant, Ledman & Teetor, Mark Landes and Paul A. Mackenzie, 
urging affirmance for amici curiae County Commissioners’ Association of Ohio 
and County Engineers’ Association of Ohio. 
__________________