Court Opinion

ID: 6782181
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-21 00:57:25.540639+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:02:53.181012
License: Public Domain

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 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.
*197Nevertheless, 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.