Opinions
Opinions
Requested by: Butler County Prosecuting Attorney
No statute directly mandates or authorizes the recording of a memorandum of contract between a real-estate broker and homeowner in which the homeowner agrees that the broker will be the listing agent if the homeowner sells his home within the next forty years. Therefore, it is within the county recorder’s discretion to determine if the memorandum of contract is a type of instrument required or authorized by the Revised Code to be recorded and/or whether the submitted memorandum of contract is materially false or fraudulent. See R.C. 317.13(B).
Requested by: Hardin County Prosecuting Attorney
Compatibility: a person cannot simultaneously serve as a secret-service officer and either a township constable or a municipal-police officer with a special commission within the same county when the person lacks an ability to abstain. The warrantless-arrest authority of township constables is limited, and is not the same as their warrant-arrest authority. A township constable may execute an arrest warrant throughout the county in which the served township sits. Any arrest conducted by an individual serving as a secret-service officer and township constable must occur while the person is acting as a constable. A county prosecutor cannot provide that a township incurs no liability for any unlawful acts done by a person who serves as both, and the ultimate determination as to the prosecutor’s liability is left to the courts. Additionally, a board of county commissioners has no authority to use the general fund to pay for the liability insurance for a person who serves as both. The entity that assumes liability for any unlawful acts is the entity for which the person is working at the moment when the unlawful act occurs.
Requested by: Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney
Pursuant to R.C. 2301.24, the cost for copies of court transcripts is subject to the fee schedule in R.C. 149.43 and is not set by the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Common Pleas does not have discretion to limit free electronic copies of transcripts to only those copies of transcripts filed in delinquency or criminal cases.
Requested by: Geauga County Prosecuting Attorney
A park-district board is not authorized to create a reserve fund, only a replacement fund pursuant to R.C. 1545.28. It derives authority to levy or replace taxes under R.C. 1545.20–.21. It is authorized to modify the language of a replacement, or replacement and additional tax levy, under R.C. 1545.21. Commissioners of a park-district board established under R.C. Chapter 1545 are not required to reside in the territory of the park district.
Requested by: Lorain County Prosecuting Attorney
If a municipal corporation annexes township territory pursuant to R.C. 709.16, R.C. 709.16(H) prevents the later use of R.C. 503.07 to make the boundary lines of the township and municipal corporation identical.
Requested by: Union County Prosecuting Attorney
Law enforcement officers may not disseminate identification information contained in LEADS and OHLEG to the coroner or the coroner’s investigators for the sole purpose of identifying a deceased person, and a coroner may not compel such dissemination through the subpoenaing power set forth in R.C. 313.17. Deputy sheriffs who also serve as coroner investigators may not access and disseminate identification information contained in LEADS and OHLEG when serving as a coroner investigator.
Requested by: Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney
The exemption to the federal minimum-wage requirements for minor-league baseball players found in 29 U.S.C. 213(a)(19) is incorporated into both the minimum-wage and overtime sections in R.C. 4111 et seq. and Article II, Section 34a of the Ohio Constitution. Because of that, minor-league baseball players are exempt from the minimum-wage and overtime protections in Ohio law, provided that the players’ contracts meet the requirements of 29 U.S.C. 213(a)(19).
Requested by: Liberty Township Law Director
A township that elects to offer reimbursement to its employees under R.C. 505.60(D) is not required to provide reimbursement to its township trustees.
Requested by: Logan County Prosecuting Attorney
Pursuant to R.C. 519.13, a township is not required to have a separate board of zoning appeals for each zoned area.
Requested by: Union Township Law Director
An entity that provides a newborn-safety incubator pursuant to R.C. 2151.3516 is required, if possible, to make available the materials specified in R.C. 2151.3518(A)(3) and (4) to a parent who delivers a child to the incubator and may exercise its official discretion to decide how those materials will be made available.