Banker's Choice, L.L.C. v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals & Cincinnati

Citations

• 2018 Ohio 3030
• 106 N.E.3d 1271

Syllabus

ADMINISTRATIVE MISCELLANEOUS – APPELLATE REVIEW/CIVIL – STANDARD OF REVIEW – ZONING: A court of appeals' review of an administrative appeal under R.C. 2506.04 is a limited one focused on the existence of legal error in the trial court the appeals court's authority is limited to reviewing the common pleas court's decision on questions of law only, does not encompass that court's power to weigh the evidence, and permits reversal only when the court of common pleas errs in its application or interpretation of the law or its decision is unsupported by a preponderance of the evidence as a matter of law. Pursuant to Civ.R. 53(D)(4)(d), when a trial court rules on objections to a magistrate's decision, the court must undertake an independent review as to the objected matters, thus when, in exercising its independent review, the trial court's judgment has modified the magistrate's decision and conflicts with it to such a degree by rejecting important factual findings that underpin the magistrate's decision, by employing its new factual findings in its analysis, and by choosing not to reach the magistrate's legal holding regarding constitutional issues, the magistrate's decision and the trial court's judgment cannot be read together as one judgment. [But see DISSENT: Where the trial court cited the proper factors to consider when reviewing the magistrate's decision and the proper standard of review to apply when considering the decision of the administrative agency and the decision of its magistrate, the trial court's decision, based in part on its own analysis and in part on its agreement with the substantial analysis already conducted by the magistrate, may be read together to render the trial court's judgment sufficiently complete to permit this court to affirm under the limited legal-error analysis provided by R.C. 2506.04.]