State ex rel. White v. Koch

Summary

The Ohio Supreme Court dismissed as moot an appeal concerning extraordinary writs sought to prevent enforcement of a temporary restraining order involving taxpayer-funded mayoral mailings about Cleveland City Council salary increases. The court rejected exceptions for matters capable of repetition yet evading review and matters of great public or general interest.

Holdings

1. The appeal was moot because the election that the mailings sought to influence had passed, Mayor White was no longer in office and therefore could no longer use the mayor's office budget for comparable mailings, and the challenged ordinance had been repealed.
2. The capable-of-repetition-yet-evading-review exception did not apply because the challenged injunction was not necessarily too short-lived for appellate review and there was no reasonable expectation that White would again be subjected to a comparable restraining order.
3. The appeal did not present a sufficiently debatable constitutional question or matter of great public or general interest to warrant an exception to mootness.
4. To the extent appellants sought extraordinary relief in mandamus to prevent enforcement of the temporary restraining order, that claim was not cognizable in mandamus.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the appeal from dismissal of the mandamus and prohibition action became moot after the election passed, the mayor left office, and the challenged ordinance was repealed.
2. Whether the appeal qualified for the capable-of-repetition-yet-evading-review exception to mootness.
3. Whether the appeal qualified for the great-public-or-general-interest exception to mootness.
4. Whether mandamus was a cognizable remedy to prevent enforcement of the temporary restraining order.

Disposition

dismissed