Ohio Supreme Court, 1984

State ex rel. Gibbons v. City of Cleveland

Ohio Supreme Court · Decided February 22, 1984 · No. 83-386 · Brown, Celebrezze, Holmes, Locher, Sweeney

9 Ohio St. 3d 216; 459 N.E.2d 892; 9 Ohio B. 526; 1984 Ohio LEXIS 1044

Cases that cite this one

11 later published cases cite this decision.

State ex rel. Bardo v. City of Lyndhurst (Ohio 1988)
State Ex Rel. DeMint v. City of Chillicothe (Ohio Ct. App. 1991)
Cleveland Fire Fighters, Local 93 of the I.A.F.F. v. Cleveland (Ohio Ct. App. 2020)
Morgan v. City of Cincinnati (Ohio 1986)
State ex rel. Bednar v. City of North Canton (Ohio 1994)
State ex rel. Bednar v. N. Canton (Ohio 1994)
Benson v. City of Fairfield (Ohio Ct. App. 1994)
Hungler v. City of Cincinnati (Ohio 1986)
State, Ex Rel. Gill v. Winters (Ohio Ct. App. 1990)
Shirokey v. Marth (Ohio Ct. App. 1990)
State ex rel. Jenkins v. Tyack (Ohio 1985)

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.

In order for a writ of mandamus to issue the relators must establish a clear legal right to the relief prayed for; a clear legal duty upon respondents to perform the act requested; and that relators have no plain and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law. State, ex rel. Butler, v. Demis (1981), 66 Ohio St. 2d 123, 124 [20 O.O. 121]; State, ex rel. Akron Fire Fighters, v. Akron (1978), 54 Ohio St. 2d 448, 450 [8 O.O.3d 443].

Appellants argue that no legal right to back pay can be established before an appointment has occurred, regardless of the reasons for the failure to appoint. We agree.1

It is well-settled that mandamus does not lie to compel the granting of benefits conferred by the civil service laws unless it has been established that the employee was appointed to the civil service position in question. State, ex rel. Lynch, v. Taylor (1940), 136 Ohio St. 417 [16 O.O. 577]; State, ex rel. Baker, v. Wichert (1953), 159 Ohio St. 50 [50 O.O. 26]; State, ex rel. Brown, v. East Cleveland (1979), 58 Ohio St. 2d 232 [12 O.O.3d 235]; State, ex rel. Pennington, v. Ross (1980), 63 Ohio St. 2d 58 [17 O.O.3d 36]. Appellees have no legal right to the salary and benefits incidental to the rank of sergeant prior to their appointment to the position of sergeant.

The cases cited by appellees in support of their claimed right to back pay *218involve situations where the employees had been properly appointed to their positions before the actions for wrongful exclusion and back pay accrued. See State, ex rel. Colangelo, v. McFaul (1980), 62 Ohio St. 2d 200 [16 O.O.3d 239]; State, ex rel. Hamlin, v. Collins (1981), 65 Ohio St. 2d 63 [19 O.O.3d 259]; and State, ex rel. Kabatek, v. Stackhouse (1981), 66 Ohio St. 2d 64 [20 O.O.3d 58].

Similarly, when a civil service appointment has been compelled by way of mandamus, no concomitant order of back pay was included for the period of time before the employee received his appointment. State, ex rel. Pell, v. Westlake (1980), 64 Ohio St. 2d 360 [18 O.O.3d 514]; State, ex rel. Wolcott, v. Celebrezze (1943), 141 Ohio St. 627 [26 O.O. 194].

Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeals is reversed and the writ is denied.

Judgment reversed and writ denied.

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

In view of our determination herein, we need not address the issue of whether, in fact, appellees were entitled to appointment to the position of sergeant as of May 26, 1977.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.