Opinion ID: 729159
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Alleged Building Permit Denial and Allegations on Appeal

Text: 18 Plaintiffs further maintain that the District Court erroneously construed their complaint as alleging only the false arrest and malicious prosecution claims. They point out that in the Introductory Statement of their complaint they also alleged that defendants have among other things ... unlawfully denied them certain rights and privileges, including but not limited to building permits. In addition, in their brief on appeal and in their proposed amended complaint, plaintiffs assert numerous additional factual allegations to support their claim that defendants have violated their constitutional rights. These new factual allegations were not included in either the state or the federal complaints, and plaintiffs did not mention these facts to the District Court. 19 First, we need not decide whether plaintiffs, in stating the alleged building permit denial in their Introductory Statement, complied with pleading requirements under FED.R.CIV.P. 8(a), because plaintiffs admitted in their proposed amended complaint that these building permits involve a time frame prior to the cruelty to animals charge. We have already determined that the latter claim is barred by the statute of limitations. Therefore, even though we do not know the exact date on which the building permit incident occurred, any action based on such incident would have to be barred by the statute of limitations. Furthermore, such a claim could not be saved under OHIO REV.CODE ANN. § 2305.19 (Anderson 1995), because the state and federal actions are not substantially the same. See Children's Hosp., 433 N.E.2d at 189. The complaint filed in state court did not mention an alleged building permit denial nor any facts to support a claim based on alleged building permit denials, and the state action involved different parties. Thus, an action based on this allegation would be barred by the statute of limitations and could not be saved by Ohio's savings provision. 6 20 Second, with regard to the allegations raised for the first time on appeal, 7 plaintiffs seek to rely on Seventh Circuit case law which holds that when reviewing Rule 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss, an appellate court will consider new factual allegations that were not raised before the District Court as long as they are not inconsistent with the complaint. See e.g., Highsmith v. Chrysler Credit Corp., 18 F.3d 434, 439-40 (7th Cir.1994). Regardless of whether we agree with the Seventh Circuit that this approach is proper, we decline to follow it here because plaintiffs' new factual allegations are inconsistent with their complaint. Broadly speaking, one could argue that the allegations are consistent with plaintiffs' claim that their constitutional rights have been violated. On its face, however, the complaint asserts a claim under § 1983 on the grounds of false charge and malicious prosecution only. The additional facts plaintiffs now assert constitute entirely new alleged violations of their rights, and as such they cannot save plaintiffs' complaint from dismissal.