Westlake v. Cleveland

Citations

• 2017 Ohio 4064

Syllabus

Water rates contract notice of termination reasonable notice. Court erred by concluding that water service agreement between municipalities expired after a period of 25 years. The water service agreement was a non-exclusive agreement for a minimum period of ten years, with annual renewals that constitute new agreements each year. As annual agreements, they do not violate the terms of the city charter that limit the term of non-exclusive franchises to 25 years. Parties to a water service agreement were required to give reasonable notice of intent to terminate agreement, but a question of fact exists as to what constitutes reasonable notice. Water provider has no contractual right to enact surcharges to recover stranded costs from municipal customers.