679 N.E.2d 1191 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1996
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *719 Plaintiff Janet Weyandt has appealed from an order of the Summit County Court of Common Pleas that dismissed her complaint for a declaratory judgment against the state of Ohio, the Summit County Executive, the Summit County Auditor, the Summit County Recorder, and the members of the Summit County Council. By her complaint, she sought a declaratory judgment that the defendants had illegally and unconstitutionally abolished land registration within Summit County. Her sole assignment of error on appeal is that the trial court incorrectly granted defendants' motions to dismiss because she had stated a claim upon which relief could be granted.
This court affirms the judgment of the trial court insofar as it is related to the state and the claim that land registration within Summit County was unconstitutionally abolished because, even though plaintiff's complaint did state a claim upon which relief in the form of a declaratory judgment could be granted, the trial court's error in granting the state's motion to dismiss was harmless inasmuch as it declared plaintiff's rights in relationship to the state and, even accepting the factual averments of plaintiff's complaint as true, the abolishment of land registration within Summit County was not a violation of either the Ohio Constitution or the United States Constitution. This court reverses the trial court's judgment as to the remaining defendants and the claim that land *720 registration within Summit County was illegally abolished, however, because the trial court failed to declare plaintiff's rights based upon her claim that the county defendants did not provide proper notice to owners of registered land of the proceedings to abolish land registration.
Effective February 28, 1991, the Ohio General Assembly, by R.C.
Plaintiff commenced this action against the Summit County Executive, the Summit County Auditor, the Summit County Recorder, and the members of the Summit County Council on April 5, 1995. On April 17, 1995, the defendants named in plaintiff's original complaint moved the trial court to dismiss her action against them for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. On September 13, 1995, plaintiff filed an amended complaint by which she added the state as a defendant.
By her amended complaint, plaintiff averred that she was the owner of registered land within Summit County. She further averred that the state, "through its legislature[,] enacted statutes permitting counties to abolish registered land RC
"WHEREFORE, plaintiff requests this Court to declare defendants' actions in abolishing land registration in Summit County illegal and unconstitutional and to order the defendants to continue land registration and grant a temporary and permanent injunction against the abolition of registered land in Summit County."
On October 13, 1995, the state moved for dismissal of plaintiff's complaint against it for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The trial court granted the state's motion to dismiss on December 15, 1995, based upon its conclusion that plaintiff's "challenges to the constitutionality of Sections *721
In this case, the trial court did not dismiss plaintiff's claims based upon a determination that there was no real controversy or justiciable issue between the parties or because a declaratory judgment would not terminate the uncertainty or controversy. Accordingly, the trial court incorrectly granted defendants' motions to dismiss. A trial court's error in dismissing a complaint by which a declaratory judgment is sought is harmless, however, if, in its judgment, the trial court has actually granted the declaratory relief requested by the plaintiff. Id.; see Meek v. City Natl. Bank Trust Co. (1940),
Section
"Laws may be passed providing for a system of registering, transferring, insuring and guaranteeing land titles by the state or by the counties thereof * * *."
It neither requires that such laws be adopted nor prohibits their repeal once they are adopted. The trial court correctly concluded that R.C.
Plaintiff has argued that her property has been made less valuable in a number of ways by the abolishment of land registration in Summit County. According to plaintiff, as a holder of registered land, she has been able to prevent easements from being taken against her property, has been able to prevent utility companies from crossing her property, and has been free of the prospect of someone acquiring "any rights in adverse possession against [her] land." She has asserted that she will lose all these advantages with the abolishment of land registration.
In Community Concerned Citizens, Inc. v. Union Twp. Bd. ofZoning Appeals (1993),
"The government impermissibly confiscates private property only where its actions for public benefit leave the owner with virtually no sticks left in his bundle *723
of ownership rights and then fails to compensate him for that loss." Trademark Homes v. Avon Lake Bd. of Zoning Appeals
(1993),
The change about which plaintiff has complained will not significantly affect her bundle of rights in her property. She will continue to own her property and will remain free to use it in the same ways she was able to use it when it was registered land.
The trial court correctly declared that R.C.
Judgment affirmed in part,reversed in partand cause remanded.
REECE, P.J., and SLABY, J., concur.