Opinion ID: 2972456
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Quasi-judicial proceeding

Text: Deja Vu claims that the resolution is unconstitutional on its face because it fails to provide for prompt judicial review when an application for a license is denied. Citing M.J. Kelley Co. v. City of Cleveland, 290 N.E.2d 562 (Ohio 1972), Deja Vu contends that the resolution does not allow for the type of “quasi-judicial proceeding” required for an appeal to lie pursuant to Ohio Revised Code § 2506. Id. at 563 (Syllabus ¶ 1) (“[A]dministrative actions of administrative officers and agencies not resulting from quasi-judicial proceedings are not appealable to the Court of Common Pleas under the provisions of R.C. 2506.01.”). Nos. 00-4420/4529 Deja Vu of Cincinnati v. Union Township et al. Page 4 In its original memorandum and order, the district court did not address Deja Vu’s argument on this point. It did, however, rule on the issue after Deja Vu again raised the argument in a motion to alter or amend the judgment. After finding that the enabling legislation passed by Ohio to allow townships to regulate adult cabarets, Ohio Rev. Code § 503.57, “provides for appeal of a denial or revocation by the Board of Trustees of a permit to operate an adult cabaret,” the district court denied Deja Vu’s request for a preliminary injunction on this basis. Under the resolution, an applicant for an adult cabaret license is permitted to “present information, evidence, and testimony to the Board, at a public hearing regarding the application.” Resolution No. 00-22 § (F)(1). The Board must make a decision on the application within 30 days of the application’s submission. Id. As set forth in the Ohio Revised Code, “[a]ny person adversely affected by an order of the board denying or revoking a permit to operate an adult cabaret may appeal from the order of the board to the court of common pleas . . . in accordance with Chapter 2506[] of the Revised Code.” Ohio Rev. Code § 503.57. Pursuant to Chapter 2506, “[e]very final order, adjudication, or decision of any officer, tribunal, authority, board, bureau, commission, department, or other division of any political subdivision of the state may be reviewed by the court of common pleas,” but only if the final order, adjudication or decision is the product of a “quasijudicial proceeding.” Ohio Rev. Code § 2506.01; see M.J. Kelley Co., 290 N.E.2d at 563 (Syllabus ¶ 1). Proceedings of an administrative agency “are not quasi-judicial where there is no requirement for notice, hearing and the opportunity for introduction of evidence.” M.J. Kelley Co., 290 N.E.2d at 563 (Syllabus ¶ 2). The Ohio Supreme Court determined that the administrative proceeding before it in M.J. Kelley Co. was not appealable pursuant to Ohio Revised Code § 2506.01 because, in determining the lowest bidder for a city contract, the Board of Control of the City of Cleveland “was not required to give advance notice of the meeting to the bidders[,] and bidders were not required to be present at such a meeting,” and that, “[i]n fact, no notice” was given to bidders. Id. at 565. In contrast, the resolution in the present case provides that the “Board shall hear any application for a permit or renewal permit, at a public hearing.” Resolution No. 00-22 § (F)(1). Ohio Revised Code § 503.52 requires a board of trustees to publish “in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the township notice of the public hearings, including the time, date, and place, once a week for two weeks immediately preceding the hearings.” Moreover, the resolution states that, during the public hearing, “[t]he applicant shall have the opportunity to present information, evidence, and testimony to the Board . . . .” Resolution No. 00-22 § (F)(1). The resolution therefore satisfies the three requirements that define a “quasi-judicial proceeding”: (1) a hearing, (2) notice, and (3) the opportunity to introduce evidence. M.J. Kelley Co., 290 N.E.2d at 563 (Syllabus ¶ 2). Deja Vu responds by citing the following four cases in support of its position that the resolution does not provide for adequate judicial review: Local No. 2134 v. Bd. of Marion Township Trs., 514 N.E.2d 1386 (Ohio Ct. App. 1986); Banjoff v. Township of Carlisle Bd. of Trs., No. 98CA007079, 1999 WL 239416 (Ohio Ct. App. Apr. 14, 1999) (unpublished); Ramacciatti v. City of Cleveland, No. 66678, 1994 WL 326238 (Ohio Ct. App. July 7, 1994) (unpublished); and City of Huber Heights v. Liakos, No. 2000 CV 03932 (Ohio Com. Pl. Sept 25, 2000) (unpublished). All of these cases, however, are distinguishable on their facts from the present case. In Local No. 2134, the Ohio Court of Appeals held that the proceedings on a grievance filed by several employees of Marion Township were not “quasi-judicial” in nature. Local No. 2134, 514 N.E.2d at 1389. The Ohio Court of Appeals relied on the undisputed fact that the Marion Township Board of Trustees did not hold a hearing or provide the employees with notice. Id. at 1388 (stating that “at no time did [the board] hold a hearing with notice given to plaintiffs concerning the grievance”). Unlike the employees in Local No. 2134, who challenged the grievance procedure as Nos. 00-4420/4529 Deja Vu of Cincinnati v. Union Township et al. Page 5 it applied to them, Deja Vu is challenging the Union Township resolution on its face. Here the resolution clearly provides for a hearing, notice, and the opportunity to introduce evidence, so that the Board is acting as a quasi-judicial administrative body when it evaluates a request for a permit. In Banjoff, the Ohio Court of Appeals held that an appeal was not available pursuant to Ohio Revised Code § 2506.01 because, unlike in the case before us, the administrative proceeding initiated by Banjoff to contest Carlisle Township’s failure to appoint him as a full-time firefighter did not provide “for notice, a hearing, or the opportunity to present evidence . . . .” Banjoff, 1999 WL 239416, at . The Ohio Court of Appeals similarly held in Ramacciatti that an administrative proceeding conducted by Cleveland’s Civil Service Commission did not constitute a “quasi-judicial proceeding” because “[n]o official notice of a hearing was provided,” and the plaintiff was not afforded the “opportunity to subpoena witness[es], to cross examine witnesses, or to have testimony taken under oath.” Ramacciatti, 1994 WL 326238, at . Finally, in City of Huber Heights, the court of common pleas’s decision concerning the licensing of a sexually oriented business hinged on the biased nature of the individual who was the relevant decisionmaker. City of Huber Heights, No. 2000 CV 03932 (slip op.), at 12-13 (“[I]t is axiomatic that a hearing conducted before a biased individual . . . would not fulfill a requisite requirement of fundamental fairness that must pre-dominate in all quasi-judicial proceedings.”). The court of common pleas emphasized that the hearing was no more than a “reconsideration” by the same individual—the City Manager—of his determination “‘that probable grounds exist for denial, suspension, or revocation of a permit.’” Id. at 10-12 (quoting § 31 of Huber Height’s sexually oriented business ordinance). In affirming the court of common pleas’s decision in City of Huber Heights, the Ohio Court of Appeals recognized that combining the investigative and adjudicative functions in a single individual, as opposed to an institutional agency, “undermines the quality of neutrality that is the central purpose of a review process” because it gives the individual “unbridled discretion.” City of Huber Heights v. Liakos, 761 N.E.2d 1083, 1091 (Ohio Ct. App. 2001). Unlike in City of Huber Heights, the decisionmaking authority under the Union Township resolution is vested in an administrative body rather than in an individual. The Union Township resolution also takes the further precaution of vesting the investigative function in the police department and the adjudicative function in the Board. Resolution No. 00-22 § (E) (providing that the police department is responsible for preparing a written report of the results of an investigation into the background of any applicant for a permit and anyone named in the application); id. § (F)(1) (stating that the Board is responsible for considering “any application for a permit or renewal permit, at a public hearing”). We therefore hold that the administrative hearing provided for by the resolution constitutes a “quasi-judicial proceeding” as that term has been defined by the Ohio Supreme Court in M.J. Kelley Co., 290 N.E.2d at 563 (Syllabus ¶ 2).