Ohio Manufacturers' Association v. Ohioans for Drug Price Relief Act

Summary

The Supreme Court of Ohio denied respondents’ motion for judgment on the pleadings in a challenge to petition signatures supporting the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act. The court held that Article II, Section 1g of the Ohio Constitution gives it original jurisdiction over the challenge and concluded that factual disputes precluded dismissal of claims concerning allegedly false circulator statements and unauthorized signature deletions.

Holdings

1. Article II, Section 1g of the Ohio Constitution grants the Supreme Court of Ohio original jurisdiction over the challenge to the Section 1b proposal petitions and signatures.
2. Judgment on the pleadings was improper because the allegation that circulators wrote a maximum signature number despite witnessing fewer signatures presented disputed factual questions concerning what signatures the circulators actually witnessed and whether the statements were false or fraudulent.
3. Judgment on the pleadings was improper because the court could not adopt a categorical rule that unauthorized signature deletions can never place the validity of an entire part-petition in question.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Article II, Section 1g of the Ohio Constitution grants the Supreme Court of Ohio original jurisdiction over a challenge to signatures on Section 1b proposal petitions submitted for legislative consideration.
2. Whether judgment on the pleadings was warranted on the claim that circulator statements overstated the number of signatures witnessed.
3. Whether judgment on the pleadings was warranted on the claim that contractors' unauthorized deletion of signatures required invalidation of entire part-petitions.

Disposition

other