State Ex Rel. Teamsters Local Union No. 436 v. Board of County Commissioners, 132 Ohio St. 3d 47

In 2008, Cuyahoga County commissioners adopted an ERIP open 2009-01-15 to 2010-01-14 excluding the Sanitary Engineering Division.
The Sanitary Engineering Division employees, including union members, attended a grievance hearing on January 9, 2009, after which the administrator ruled ineligible for ERIP on January 20, 2009.
The union later sent a taxpayer demand letter (Dec 22, 2009) urging action to extend ERIP to the division or recover ERIP funds; the prosecutor declined.
On Dec 30, 2009, the union filed a taxpayer action seeking to declare noncompliance with R.C. 145.297 and to require inclusion of the division.
The trial court denied injunctive relief but granted declaratory relief finding ERIP violated the statute; the county appealed.
The Eighth District affirmed; the Ohio Supreme Court reversed, holding lack of taxpayer standing and failure to exhaust administrative remedies may render the merits moot.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the union had taxpayer standing to challenge ERIP	Lesh, on behalf of Sanitary Eng. employees, asserts public-right standing due to statutory noncompliance.	Board contends no public-right standing since challenge seeks private benefits for a subset of employees.	Union lacked taxpayer standing.
Whether the Sanitary Engineering Division employees were required to exhaust administrative remedies	Exhaustion not necessary due to futility of appealing exclusion from ERIP.	Remedies under the ERIP grievance process must be exhausted before judicial action.	Exhaustion required; no futility shown; declaratory relief as to that relief was inappropriate.
Whether the case is moot given standing and exhaustion rulings	If standing or exhaustion were met, merits should be reached on the statute.	Without standing and with exhausted remedies not satisfied, court should not reach merits.	Merits were moot; decision reversed to that extent.

State ex rel. Caspar v. Dayton, 53 Ohio St.3d 16 (1990) (taxpayer action requires public-right vindication)
State ex rel. Fisher v. Cleveland, 109 Ohio St.3d 33 (2006) (standing exists when government action unlawfully intrudes privacy/public interest)
Schomaeker v. First Natl. Bank of Ottawa, 66 Ohio St.2d 304 (1981) (exhaustion rule for administrative appeals before declaratory relief)
Noernberg v. Brook Park, 63 Ohio St.2d 26 (1980) (exhaustion of administrative remedies prerequisite to relief)
Pierce v. Hagans, 79 Ohio St.3d 9 (1997) (taxpayers cannot vindicate private interests as public rights)