Ohio Supreme Court, 1979

Sebastiani v. City of Youngstown

Ohio Supreme Court · Decided December 26, 1979 · Brown, Celebrezze, Dowd, Fifth, Herbert, Holmes, Locher, Sweeney

60 Ohio St. 2d 166; 398 N.E.2d 558; 14 Ohio Op. 3d 405; 1979 Ohio LEXIS 520

Cases that cite this one

9 later published cases cite this decision.

State ex rel. Purdy v. Clermont Cty. Bd. of Elections (Ohio 1997)
State ex rel. Purdy v. Clermont County Board of Elections (Ohio 1996)
City of Westlake v. Mascot Petroleum Co. (Ohio 1991)
Zilba v. City of Port Clinton (District Court, N.D. Ohio 2013)
Rickard v. Ohio Department of Liquor Control (Ohio Ct. App. 1986)
Czech v. Northwood, Wd-08-045 (12-19-2008) (Ohio Ct. App. 2008)
Leisure v. State Farm Auto. Ins. Co., Unpublished Decision (8-31-1998) (Ohio Ct. App. 1998)
Leisure v. State Farm Auto. Ins. Co., Unpublished Decision (10-26-1998) (Ohio Ct. App. 1998)
Barnoff v. Progressive Ins. Co., Unpublished Decision (6-8-1998) (Ohio Ct. App. 1998)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam.

R. C. 2721.12 provides:

“When declaratory relief is sought, all persons shall be made parties who have or claim any interest which would be affected by the declaration. ***In any proceeding which involves the validity of a municipal ordinance or franchise, the municipal corporation shall be made a party***, and if any* * * ordinance* **is alleged to be unconstitutional, the attorney general shall also be served with a copy of the proceeding and shall be heard.” (Emphasis added.)

In Malloy v. Westlake (1977), 52 Ohio St. 2d 103, this court held, in the syllabus, that “[failure to serve the Attorney General under R. C. 2721.12 with a copy of the proceeding in a declaratory judgment action which challenges the constitutionality of an ordinance precludes a Court of Common Pleas from rendering declaratory relief in that action.”

In this cause, the Attorney General was not made a party to the action in the Court of Common Pleas, in compliance with the provisions of R. C. 2721.12.

Accordingly, on authority of Malloy v. Westlake, supra, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the cause is dismissed.

Judgment reversed and cause dismissed.

Celebrezze, C. J., W. Brown, Dowd, Sweeney, Locher and Holmes, JJ., concur.

Dissenting Opinion

Herbert, J.,

dissents for the reasons stated in the dissenting opinion in Malloy v. Westlake (1977), 52 Ohio St. 2d 103, 108, 370 N.E. 2d 457, 460.

Dowd, J., of the Fifth Appellate District, sitting for P. Brown, J.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.