Title: State ex rel. Lambert v. Medina County Bd. of Elections

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State 
ex rel. Lambert v. Medina Cty. Bd. of Elections, Slip Opinion No. 2023-Ohio-3351.] 
 
                                                                
 
 
 
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. 2023-OHIO-3351 
THE STATE EX REL. LAMBERT v. MEDINA COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Lambert v. Medina Cty. Bd. of Elections, Slip 
Opinion No. 2023-Ohio-3351.] 
Elections—Mandamus—Compliance 
with 
election 
statutes—Evidence 
unequivocally showed that relator sought placement of question on ballot 
asking electors whether sale of spirituous liquor should be permitted at 
certain times on Sundays at a particular location—Because relator’s 
petition was controlled by R.C. 4301.333, relator not entitled to relief in 
mandamus based on failure of board of elections to follow procedure under 
R.C. 4301.33—Because relator did not provide board with affidavit 
required by R.C. 4301.333(C)(1)(a) when petition filed, petition was invalid 
in its entirety under R.C. 4301.333(C)(2)—Writ denied. 
(No. 2023-1097—Submitted September 18, 2023—Decided September 20, 2023.) 
IN MANDAMUS. 
__________________ 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
2 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} In this expedited election case, relator, James B. Lambert, seeks a writ 
of mandamus compelling respondent, the Medina County Board of Elections, to 
place a local liquor option on the November 7, 2023 general-election ballot.  
Alternatively, Lambert seeks an order compelling the board to provide him with 
information and a form that he says he needs in order to have his liquor-option 
petition considered for placement on the ballot.  We deny the writ. 
I.  BACKGROUND 
A. Legal background 
{¶ 2} Ohio law grants the privilege of local option to the electors of an 
election precinct and specifies measures for exercising that privilege.  See 
R.C. 4301.32 et seq.  Although not defined by statute, “local option” is a term used 
to describe the method of regulating liquor licensing within a locality by a popular 
vote of the people rather than by legislative enactment.  See Shelley Ross Saxer, 
“Down with Demon Drink!”: Strategies for Resolving Liquor Outlet 
Overconcentration in Urban Areas, 33 Santa Clara L.Rev. 123, 153 (1995).  
R.C. 4301.33 and 4301.333 are two local-option statutes relevant to this case. 
{¶ 3} R.C. 4301.33 sets forth the procedure for circulating a petition for the 
submission of a question arising under R.C. 4301.35 (concerning, among other 
things, the question whether to permit the sale of wine and mixed beverages by the 
package for off-premises consumption) or 4301.351 (concerning the question 
whether to permit Sunday sales).  The scope of the questions presented under 
R.C. 4301.35 and 4301.351 have generally been described as having a “precinct-
wide” reach.  See 2012 Ohio Atty.Gen.Ops. No. 2012-025, 2012 WL 3782388, *7-
8.  A board of elections must provide two things to a petitioner who wishes to 
circulate a petition under R.C. 4301.33: “[A]t the time of taking out the petition,” 
the board must provide to the petitioner the “names of the streets and, if appropriate, 
the address numbers of residences and business establishments within the precinct 
January Term, 2023 
 
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in which the election is sought,” R.C. 4301.33(A)(1), and a “form prescribed by the 
secretary of state for notifying affected permit holders and liquor-agency stores of 
the circulation of” the petition, R.C. 4301.33(A)(2). 
{¶ 4} The petitioner must file the information provided by the board with 
the division of liquor control and obtain from the division a list of names and 
addresses of permit holders and liquor-agency stores that would be affected by the 
election.  Id.  Next, the petitioner must notify the permit holders and liquor-agency 
stores included on the list provided by the division of the proposed local option, 
using the form provided by the board.  Id.  When the petitioner files the petition 
with the board, the petitioner must provide the list supplied by the division and an 
affidavit certifying that the petitioner has notified the entities on the list of the 
proposed local option.  Id.  The Ohio secretary of state has adopted “Form No. 5-
N” as the affidavit that must be filed under R.C. 4301.33(A)(2), and the secretary 
of state has specified that the upper half of the form applies to a petition under R.C. 
4301.33.1  “Failure of the petitioner to provide the affidavit required by [R.C. 
4301.33] and a complete and accurate list of liquor permit holders and liquor 
agency stores, if any, invalidates the entire petition.”  R.C. 4301.33(A)(2). 
{¶ 5} R.C. 4301.333 prescribes a different procedure that is applicable to 
the privilege conferred by R.C. 4301.323, which empowers electors to exercise a 
“local option on the sale of beer, wine and mixed beverages, or spirituous liquor at 
a particular location within the precinct.”  (Emphasis added.)  In exercising the 
authority conferred on the secretary of state by R.C. 3501.05(P) to prescribe and 
distribute to boards of elections a list of instructions indicating all legal steps 
necessary to “petition successfully for local option elections,” the secretary of state 
has observed that R.C. 4301.333 is an exception to the rule that “[i]n most cases, a 
 
1. Form No. 5-N is available on the secretary of state’s website.  See Ohio Secretary of State Form 
No. 5-N, https://www.ohiosos.gov/elections/elections-officials/forms-petitions/ (accessed Sept. 18, 
2023). 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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local liquor option election will affect the entire precinct in which the election is 
held.”2  Under the procedure established by R.C. 4301.333, only a class member 
designated under the statute (e.g., “[t]he holder of a liquor permit at a particular 
location within the precinct,” R.C. 4301.333(A)(2)) may present a petition to the 
board.  See R.C. 4301.333(A)(1) through (4); see also R.C. 4301.323(A) 
through (D).  Among other things, the petition must contain a notice that the 
petition is for the submission of a question arising under R.C. 4301.355.  R.C. 
4301.333(B)(1).  For example, one of the questions permitted by R.C. 4301.355 
asks whether the electors should authorize the sale of spirituous liquor on Sundays 
by a liquor-permit holder engaged in business at a particular location in the precinct.  
See R.C. 4301.355(B)(2).  When the petitioner submits the petition to the board, 
the petitioner must provide a signed affidavit attesting to the proposed use of the 
location following the election.  R.C. 4301.333(C)(1)(a).  The secretary of state has 
adopted Form No. 5-N as the affidavit necessary for this filing, specifying that the 
lower half of the form applies to a petition under R.C. 4301.333.  “Failure to supply 
the affidavit * * * at the time the petition is filed invalidates the entire petition.”  
R.C.  4301.333(C)(2). 
B. Factual background 
{¶ 6} Lambert is the managing member and chief executive officer of 
Lambert United Enterprises, L.L.C.  Lambert United Enterprises does business as 
Geeked Out Pub & Grille, which is located in Brunswick.  Lambert represents that 
Lambert United Enterprises holds a Class D liquor permit from the Ohio Division 
of Liquor Control.  He represents that the permit allows the sale of intoxicating 
liquor from Monday through Saturday, but that it allows the sale of only beer and 
wine on Sundays. 
 
2. See Ohio Secretary of State, 2022 Guide to Local Liquor Options Elections, at ii, 3-4 (Oct. 2022), 
available at https://www.sos.state.oh.us/globalassets/publications/election/localops22.pdf (accessed 
Sept. 18, 2023). 
January Term, 2023 
 
5 
{¶ 7} In early July 2023, Lambert went to the board of elections to get a 
petition for the purpose of obtaining what he describes as a “Sunday Serve spiritous 
liquor permit.”3  A board-of-elections worker advised Lambert that he would need 
50 signatures from Ward 2-D in Brunswick, handed Lambert a petition, and told 
Lambert that the petition was due to be returned to the board no later than August 
9, which was 90 days before the November 7 general election.  It is undisputed that 
the board did not provide Lambert with the street and address information or the 
notification form required by R.C. 4301.33(A)(1) and (2). 
{¶ 8} On August 9, Lambert returned to the board with signatures on the 
petition, which had been circulated.  The petition appears on “Form 5-R,” which, 
according to its instructions, is a petition for use in “submit[ting] the question of 
the sale of * * * spirituous liquor at a particular location within a precinct.”  The 
question posed on the petition is whether spirituous liquor should be sold on 
Sundays between certain hours by “Lambert United Enterprises LLC dba Geeked 
Out Pub and Grille” at “1439 Town Center Blvd D20 Brunswick Oh 44212,” which 
is the same location on file with the division of liquor control.  No one from the 
board of elections advised Lambert that he needed to provide an affidavit with the 
petition. 
{¶ 9} On August 23 or 24, Lambert called the board of elections and was 
told by its director that the proposed local option would not be appearing on the 
ballot because the petition had lacked the Form No. 5-N affidavit.  Around that 
time, Lambert obtained an opinion from the Medina County Prosecuting Attorney’s 
Office that had been written in response to a question from the board of elections’ 
director and deputy director and that explained that the procedure under 
R.C. 4301.333 rather than R.C. 4301.33 applied to Lambert’s petition.  The 
prosecutor reasoned that because R.C. 4301.333 applied, Lambert’s failure to 
 
3. Ohio law defines “spirituous liquor” as including “all intoxicating liquors containing more than 
twenty-one per cent of alcohol by volume.”  R.C. 4301.01(B)(5). 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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attach the affidavit required under that statute meant that his petition was invalid 
under R.C. 4301.333(C)(2). 
{¶ 10} On August 29, Lambert filed this expedited election action against 
the board of elections, seeking a writ of mandamus ordering placement of the local 
option on the November 2023 general-election ballot or, alternatively, an order 
directing the board to comply with R.C. 4301.33(A)(1) and (2).  The board filed an 
answer, and the parties filed evidence and merit briefs under the expedited schedule 
set forth in S.Ct.Prac.R. 12.08(A).  Lambert did not file a reply brief. 
{¶ 11} Lambert does not advance a compelling reason in his brief as to why 
the local option should be placed on the ballot.  Instead, he states that he is 
“realistically” seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the relief he has asked for in 
the alternative, which is that the board be required to provide him with the street 
and address  information and the form required under R.C. 4301.33(A)(1) and (2), 
so that he can then complete the affidavit on Form No. 5-N and present all the 
necessary petition materials to the board of elections for consideration for 
placement of the local option on the ballot.  Accordingly, we limit our analysis to 
the latter requested relief. 
II.  ANALYSIS 
{¶ 12} To be entitled to a writ of mandamus, Lambert must establish by 
clear and convincing evidence that (1) he has a clear legal right to the requested 
relief, (2) the board of elections has a clear legal duty to provide it, and (3) he does 
not have an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law.  See State ex rel. 
Linnabary v. Husted, 138 Ohio St.3d 535, 2014-Ohio-1417, 8 N.E.3d 940, ¶ 13.  
Lambert lacks an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law due to the 
proximity of the election, and he therefore meets the third element to obtain the 
writ.  See State ex rel. LaChapelle v. Harkey, __ Ohio St.3d __, 2023-Ohio-2723, 
__ N.E.3d __, ¶ 8. An analysis under the first two elements asks “whether the board 
engaged in fraud or corruption, abused its discretion, or acted in clear disregard of 
January Term, 2023 
 
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applicable law.”  State ex rel. Brubaker v. Lawrence Cty. Bd. of Elections, 168 Ohio 
St.3d 211, 2022-Ohio-1087, 197 N.E.3d 548, ¶ 10. 
{¶ 13} Lambert cites R.C. 4301.33(A)(1) and (2) as the sources of his 
requested relief in mandamus.  He claims that the board of elections abused its 
discretion by failing to provide him with the street and address information required 
by R.C. 4301.33(A)(1) and the form for notifying affected permit holders and 
liquor-agency stores required by R.C. 4301.33(A)(2) when he took out his petition.  
Implicit in Lambert’s argument is his assertion that had he received the information 
and form from the board, he would have been able to provide the affidavit required 
by R.C. 4301.33(A)(2) on Form No. 5-N attesting that he had notified all the 
affected permit holders and liquor-agency stores of the proposed local option, 
thereby enabling his petition to be considered for the ballot.  The board does not 
disagree that R.C. 4301.33(A)(1) and (2) requires a board of elections to produce 
the street and address information and the form, but it argues that R.C. 4301.333 
rather than R.C. 4301.33 controls because Lambert’s petition concerned the 
question whether the sale of spirituous liquor should be permitted at a particular 
location.  Because R.C. 4301.333 does not require the board to provide street and 
address information or the form, the board says that mandamus cannot lie. 
{¶ 14} The board is correct that R.C. 4301.333 rather than R.C. 4301.33 
applies here.  R.C. 4301.333(A) prescribes the procedure for exercising the 
“privilege of local option conferred by [R.C. 4301.323],” and that privilege pertains 
to the “sale of beer, wine and mixed beverages, or spirituous liquor at a particular 
location within the precinct,” (emphasis added) R.C. 4301.323.  The evidence 
unequivocally shows that Lambert sought to place a question on the ballot asking 
the electors whether the sale of spirituous liquor should be permitted at certain times 
on Sundays by Lambert United Enterprises, L.L.C., d.b.a. Geeked Out Pub & 
Grille, at a particular location, namely, the address of the company on file with the 
division of liquor control.  Indeed, Lambert presented his petition to the board on 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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Form No. 5-R, which the secretary of state has adopted for a “petition to submit the 
question of the sale of * * * spirituous liquor at a particular location within a 
precinct.”  Notably, by citing R.C. 4301.333, that form shows that it was adopted 
to effectuate the local-option provisions under R.C. 4301.333, not R.C. 4301.33. 
{¶ 15} Because Lambert’s petition is controlled by the procedure prescribed 
under R.C. 4301.333, he is not entitled to relief in mandamus based on any failure 
of the board of elections to follow the procedure prescribed by R.C. 4301.33.  
Moreover, because Lambert did not provide the board with the affidavit required 
by R.C. 4301.333(C)(1)(a) when he filed his petition, his petition was invalid in its 
entirety under R.C. 4301.333(C)(2).  See Brubaker, 168 Ohio St.3d 211, 2022-
Ohio-1087, 197 N.E.3d 548, at ¶ 12-16 (petition held to be invalid under a similar 
provision in R.C. 4301.33(A) for failing to provide a required affidavit). 
III.  CONCLUSION 
{¶ 16} For the foregoing reasons, we deny the writ. 
Writ denied. 
KENNEDY, C.J., and FISCHER, DONNELLY, STEWART, BRUNNER, and 
DETERS, JJ., concur. 
DEWINE, J., dissents, with an opinion. 
_________________ 
DEWINE, J., dissenting. 
{¶ 17} In its answer to James B. Lambert’s mandamus claim, the Medina 
County Board of Elections asserted that Lambert lacked standing to bring the claim 
and asked this court to dismiss the action.  The majority skips over the standing 
requirement and proceeds to the merits of Lambert’s claim.  I would not.  Because 
it is evident from the record that Lambert lacks standing to pursue this claim, I 
would dismiss this case. 
{¶ 18} “Standing is a threshold requirement that must be met before a court 
may consider the merits of a legal claim.”  Beaver Excavating Co. v. Testa, 134 
January Term, 2023 
 
9 
Ohio St.3d 565, 2012-Ohio-5776, 983 N.E.2d 1317, ¶ 8.  To have standing in a 
mandamus case, a relator must be beneficially interested in the case.  State ex rel. 
Ames v. Portage Cty. Bd. of Revision, 166 Ohio St.3d 225, 2021-Ohio-4486, 184 
N.E.3d 90, ¶ 10; see also R.C. 2731.02. 
{¶ 19} Lambert is the chief executive officer and managing member of 
Lambert United Enterprises, LLC (“LUE”), which does business as Geeked Out 
Pub & Grille, in Brunswick, Ohio.  LUE, as a limited-liability company, is a 
“separate legal entity” from its members, R.C. 1706.04(A), including Lambert.  
LUE—not Lambert—holds a state liquor license, and LUE—not Lambert—would 
hold the “Sunday Serve spiritous liquor permit” sought through placement of the 
liquor option on the ballot.  A copy of the petition submitted by respondent shows 
that it was LUE—not Lambert—that acted as the petitioner for the local-option 
issue under R.C. 4301.323(B) and 4301.333(A)(2). 
{¶ 20} Lambert argues that he is “beneficially interested in the matter” 
before this court by virtue of his positions as chief executive officer and managing 
member of LUE.  However, the test for standing in mandamus actions concerning 
election matters is whether the relator “would be directly benefited or injured by a 
judgment in the case.”  (Emphasis added.)  State ex rel. Sinay v. Sodders, 80 Ohio 
St.3d 224, 226, 685 N.E.2d 754 (1997).  While Lambert may benefit from or be 
injured by this court’s holding, it would be only in a derivative way, through his 
roles at the company.  Lambert has no legal right that will be directly impacted by 
this mandamus action; therefore, he lacks standing to pursue the claim.  See State 
ex rel. Brophy v. Cleveland, 141 Ohio St. 518, 521-522, 49 N.E.2d 175 (1943). 
{¶ 21} Because standing is a threshold inquiry, I would dismiss the case on 
that basis without reaching the merits of Lambert’s claims.  I dissent from the 
majority’s decision to do otherwise. 
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SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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The Law Office of Anita Lambert, L.L.C., and Anita A. Lambert, for 
relator. 
 
S. Forrest Thompson, Medina County Prosecuting Attorney, and Michael 
K. Lyons and John R. Marconi, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for respondent. 
_________________