Chapter 5563 | Appeals In County Road Cases

Section 5563.01 | Execution of order to open road.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

No order of the board of county commissioners for locating, establishing, altering, straightening, widening, or changing the direction of a public road, shall be executed until ten days have elapsed after the board has made its final order in the matter of compensation and damages, on account of such improvement. If, at the end of ten days, any person, firm, or corporation interested, has effected an appeal, then the order shall not be executed until the matters appealed from have been disposed of in the probate court or the common pleas court.

Any person, firm, or corporation desiring to appeal to the probate court or the common pleas court, when the improvement is located in two or more counties, may appeal to the probate or common pleas court of either county.

Section 5563.02 | Appeal - notice - bond.

• Effective: January 1, 1966
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 94 - 106th General Assembly

Any person, firm, or corporation interested therein, may appeal from the final order or judgment of the board of county commissioners, made in any road improvement proceeding and entered upon their journal, determining any of the following matters:

(A) The order establishing the proposed improvement;

(B) The order dismissing or refusing to grant the prayer of the petition for the proposed improvement.

Any person, firm, or corporation desiring to appeal from the final order or judgment of the board upon any such questions, shall, at the final hearing upon matters of compensation or damages, give notice in writing of an intention to appeal, specifying therein the matters to be appealed from.

In case the petition for an improvement is dismissed, or the prayer thereof is not granted, then a person, firm, or corporation desiring to appeal therefrom must give notice as provided by this section on the date when the order is made dismissing said petition, or refusing to grant the prayer thereof, and file the bond required within the time prescribed.

The board shall fix the amount of the bond to be given by the appellant, which amount shall be reasonable, and cause an entry thereof to be made upon its journal. The appellant, within ten days thereafter, shall file with the county auditor a bond in the amount so fixed, with sureties to be approved by the county auditor. Such bond shall be conditioned to pay all costs made on the appeal, if the appellant fails to sustain such appeal or it is dismissed.

Minors or other persons under disability, or their respective guardians, may appeal to the probate court or the common pleas court without giving bond for the payment of costs. The court shall cause an entry showing such disability to be made on the journal. The estates of such persons shall be liable for all costs adjudged against them or their legal representatives.

Section 5563.03 | Board of county commissioners shall transmit papers to court.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

Within ten days after the filing of an appeal bond or the making of the journal entry as provided by section 5563.02 of the Revised Code, the board of county commissioners shall transmit to the probate court or to the common pleas court the original papers in the road improvement proceedings, and a certified transcript of the record of the board of all proceedings in connection therewith. Upon receipt thereof the court shall docket the cause, and the appellants shall be designated as plaintiffs and the board and other parties in interest as defendants.

Section 5563.04 | Hearing of preliminary questions and motions.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

The probate judge or common pleas judge shall designate a day, not exceeding five days after the docketing of the cause as provided by section 5563.03 of the Revised Code for the hearing of all preliminary questions and motions on an appeal and the examination of the papers and proceedings. On the day fixed all preliminary motions and questions arising upon the appeal shall be heard and determined, and if the court finds that the proceedings are irregular, or that the appeal is not perfected according to law, the court shall dismiss such appeal, at the cost of the appellants, and certify the court's proceedings and the dismissal to the board. The court may waive technical defects, errors, or omissions in such proceedings.

Section 5563.05 | Trial by jury - selection of jurors.

• Effective: May 22, 2012
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 268 - 129th General Assembly

If the probate judge or common pleas judge finds that an appeal in a road improvement case has been properly perfected, and that the proceedings are substantially regular, the judge shall fix a day, not more than twenty days after the finding, for the trial of the case by jury. The jury shall be selected from the jurors drawn as prescribed in Chapter 2313. of the Revised Code.

Section 5563.06 | Consolidation of cases.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

If more than one party appeals, the probate court or common pleas court shall order the cases to be consolidated and tried together, but the rights of each person, firm, or corporation, as to compensation or damages, shall be separately determined by the jury in its verdict.

Section 5563.08 | Oath of jurors.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

The probate court or common pleas court shall administer to the jurors in road improvement cases an oath that they will faithfully, impartially, and to the best of their ability, determine the particular matters appealed from, and render a true verdict, according to the evidence, under the charge of the court.

Section 5563.09 | Right to view premises before testimony is submitted.

• Effective: January 1, 1966
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 94 - 106th General Assembly

On motion of either party, the jury, under the care of an officer of the court and with such persons as the court may designate to show them the premises, and before any testimony shall be submitted, except the plat and a survey of the improvement and the title papers of the claimant, if produced, which the jury may take with them, shall examine the route or location of the road improvement as petitioned for or ordered, and after making such examination the jury shall return to the court at the time appointed. After the jury has returned the parties shall offer their evidence to it, under the direction of the court, upon the matters appealed from. The rules of law and procedure governing civil cases in the court of common pleas apply to the trial of the cause in the probate court.

Section 5563.10 | Verdict of jury - court to make finding.

• Effective: March 17, 1987
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 412 - 116th General Assembly

At the conclusion of a trial under section 5563.05 of the Revised Code, the judge shall charge the jury and the jury shall determine in its verdict whether the improvement petitioned for or granted will be conducive to the public convenience and welfare, if an order establishing the proposed improvement or dismissing or refusing to grant the prayer of the petition is appealed. The court shall make a finding for or against the improvement, based on the verdict of the jury.

Section 5563.11 | Taxing costs.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

The probate judge or the common pleas judge shall make a record of all proceedings before him, and tax the costs, which shall include jury fees, in favor of the prevailing party and against the losing party. If more than one matter is appealed from, and a party prevails as to one matter and loses as to another, the court shall determine how much of the costs each party shall pay. The costs on motions or continuance and the like shall be taxed and paid as the court directs. If there are several persons upon the side taxed with costs, the court shall apportion the costs equitably among them. In case several persons are interested on one side of the case and part of them fail, the court shall make such order as to costs as is just and equitable. In cases not specifically provided for, the court shall render such judgment in respect to costs as is equitable. The board of county commissioners shall pay any costs adjudged against them out of the county treasury.

Section 5563.12 | Enforcement of judgment.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

Any judgment rendered by the probate court or the common pleas court in favor of any party in a road improvement cause may be enforced by execution issued out of the court, on its own motion or at the instance of the persons entitled to said judgment or a part thereof, and the money, when collected, shall be paid to the persons respectively entitled thereto.

Section 5563.13 | Transcript and papers certified to county auditor.

• Effective: September 24, 1963
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 91 - 105th General Assembly

The probate judge or the common pleas judge shall make a record of all proceedings had in the court on appeal in a road improvement case, and after the termination of such proceedings, or at the conclusion of an appeal, if an appeal is prosecuted, shall certify the record to the county auditor, together with all of the original papers filed with the court on appeal.

Section 5563.16 | Fees and compensation taxed as costs.

• Effective: January 1, 1966
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 94 - 106th General Assembly

For their services required on appeal the officers and other persons mentioned in sections 5563.01 to 5563.17, inclusive, of the Revised Code, shall be entitled to the fees and compensation to which they are entitled for like services in other cases. The persons appointed by the court to show the premises to the jury shall receive such compensation as the court directs, and such compensation shall be taxed with the other costs in the case.

Section 5563.17 | Procedure after judgment establishing improvement.

• Effective: January 1, 1966
• Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 94 - 106th General Assembly

If an appeal is taken from the order of the board of county commissioners dismissing or refusing to grant the prayer of a petition for a road improvement, and the jury finds in favor of such improvement, the court shall render judgment establishing such improvement, unless a new trial is granted by the court, and the said improvement shall be established unless the judgment of such court is reversed. The board shall thereupon take the necessary steps to have the improvement platted and surveyed, and shall proceed to have the compensation and damages, on account of such improvement, determined.