State ex rel. US Bank Trust, Natl. Assn. v. Cuyahoga Cty. , 2023 Ohio 1063 ( 2023 )


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  • [Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State
    ex rel. US Bank Trust, Natl. Assn. v. Cuyahoga Cty., Slip Opinion No. 
    2023-Ohio-1063
    .]
    NOTICE
    This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an
    advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested to
    promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65
    South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other
    formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before
    the opinion is published.
    SLIP OPINION NO. 
    2023-OHIO-1063
    THE STATE EX REL . US BANK TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE
    OF   AMERICAN HOMEOWNER PRESERVATION TRUST SERIES 2015A+,
    APPELLANT , v. CUYAHOGA COUNTY, APPELLEE.
    THE STATE EX REL . US BANK TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE
    OF   AMERICAN HOMEOWNER PRESERVATION TRUST SERIES 2015A+,
    APPELLANT, v. LUCAS COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS,
    APPELLEE.
    THE STATE EX REL . US BANK TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE
    OF   AMERICAN HOMEOWNER PRESERVATION TRUST SERIES 2014A,
    APPELLANT, v. SUMMIT COUNTY, APPELLEE.
    [Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it
    may be cited as State ex rel. US Bank Trust, Natl. Assn. v. Cuyahoga Cty., Slip
    Opinion No. 
    2023-Ohio-1063
    .]
    Mandamus—Enforcement of tax liens on real property—R.C. Chapter 323—
    County land-reutilization corporations (i.e., county land banks)—Mortgage
    holder that did not acquire mortgage for abandoned property until one year
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    after adjudication of foreclosure to enforce tax lien on that property lacks
    standing to challenge foreclosure proceedings—Mortgage holder and
    owner of abandoned properties had adequate remedy in ordinary course of
    law by way of exercising its rights under R.C. Chapter 323 to challenge
    foreclosure proceedings to enforce tax liens against properties—Courts of
    appeals’ judgments denying writs affirmed.
    (Nos. 2021-1090, 2021-1091, and 2021-1181—Submitted January 10, 2023—
    Decided April 4, 2023.)
    APPEALS from the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County, No. CA 21 110297,
    
    2021-Ohio-2524
    ; the Court of Appeals for Lucas County, No. L-21-1087; and the
    Court of Appeals for Summit County, No. 29889, 
    2021-Ohio-3189
    .
    __________________
    FISCHER, J.
    Introduction
    {¶ 1} Under Ohio law, a county treasurer shall enforce a tax lien on real
    property through a foreclosure action, which may result in a sale of the property at
    auction. If a sale at auction occurs and the price exceeds the amount of the lien, the
    excess funds paid by the purchaser may go to junior lienholders or to the owner. But
    if the tax-delinquent property is abandoned, an auction may not be required; the
    property may be transferred directly to a land bank, free of all liens. When that
    happens, the county gives up its right to collect the tax debt and any junior lienholders
    and the owner get nothing.
    {¶ 2} The appeals before us involve three properties that were transferred
    directly to county land banks in 2017 and 2018. Appellant, US Bank Trust, National
    Association, as Trustee of American Homeowner Preservation Trust Series 2014A
    (case No. 2021-1181) and 2015A+ (case Nos. 2021-1090 and 2021-1091), owned
    the foreclosed property in Summit County and claims to have held mortgages on the
    foreclosed properties in Cuyahoga and Lucas Counties. US Bank alleges that at the
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    January Term, 2023
    time of the direct transfers, the fair market value of each property was greater than
    the associated tax lien and that the direct transfers of the properties to the county land
    banks constituted takings without just compensation. US Bank sought writs of
    mandamus in the courts of appeals, seeking to compel the initiation of appropriation
    proceedings under R.C. Chapter 163.
    {¶ 3} The courts of appeals dismissed US Bank’s complaints, and US Bank
    appealed the judgments to this court. In each case, we affirm the judgment of the
    court of appeals.
    Background
    Overview of the statutory process for enforcement of a tax lien on real property
    {¶ 4} R.C. 323.25 requires county treasurers to enforce tax liens on real
    property. Traditionally, a county enforces a tax lien by obtaining an adjudication of
    foreclosure and selling the property at auction. See R.C. 323.25 and 323.28(A).
    Since 2006, however, Ohio law has allowed county treasurers to pursue an alternative
    process to enforce tax liens on “abandoned land,” as that term is defined in R.C.
    323.65(A). The law now authorizes a court or a county board of revision, under
    certain circumstances, to order the direct transfer of abandoned property to a “county
    land reutilization corporation”—i.e., a land bank—without a sale.              See R.C.
    323.28(E), 323.71(A)(1), 323.73(G), and 323.78; 2006 Sub.H.B. No. 294, 151 Ohio
    Laws, Part IV, 7334.
    {¶ 5} In the cases here, the Cuyahoga, Lucas, and Summit County treasurers
    invoked “the alternative redemption period” under R.C. 323.78(A). When the
    alternative redemption period is invoked,
    the court or board of revision shall order * * * that the equity of
    redemption and any statutory or common law right of redemption in
    the parcel by its owner shall be forever terminated after the expiration
    of the alternative redemption period [i.e., 28 days after the
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    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    adjudication of foreclosure is journalized by a court or county board
    of revision, see R.C. 323.65(J)] and that the parcel shall be transferred
    by deed directly to [a land bank or a statutorily eligible political
    subdivision] without appraisal and without a sale, free and clear of all
    impositions and any other liens on the property, which shall be
    deemed forever satisfied and discharged.
    R.C. 323.78(B). Division (B) of the statute further provides that “[t]he court or board
    of revision shall order such a transfer regardless of whether the value of the taxes,
    assessments, penalties, interest, and other charges due on the parcel, and the costs of
    the action, exceed the fair market value of the parcel.” 
    Id.
    {¶ 6} If the county treasurer does not invoke the alternative redemption
    period, the property is sold at auction and any surplus proceeds from the sale may be
    claimed by and distributed to junior lienholders and/or the owners. See R.C.
    323.73(C) (last paragraph) (any party to the action that claims a right to the surplus
    proceeds from the sale “shall have a separate cause of action” in a county or
    municipal court where the property is located, and the clerk of court shall hold the
    surplus proceeds until the clerk receives an order from the court setting forth the order
    of priority and the amount of the surplus proceeds or receives a certified copy of an
    agreement between the parties that sets forth the priority and distribution of the
    surplus proceeds). Both an owner and a lienholder may request the transfer of a
    foreclosure action from a board of revision to a court of common pleas or a municipal
    court. See R.C. 323.691(A)(1) (transfers between a board of revision and the courts),
    323.70(B) (owner’s right to transfer) and, 323.72(A)(2)(b) (permitting a lienholder
    to request a transfer “in order to preserve [its] * * * security interest of record in the
    land”); see also R.C. 323.69(B)(2) (notice of foreclosure must relay that any owner
    of record may “file a pleading with the clerk of court requesting that the board transfer
    the case to a court of competent jurisdiction”). Any party aggrieved by a board of
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    January Term, 2023
    revision’s foreclosure adjudication has the right to appeal the board’s final judgment
    to the common pleas court. R.C. 323.79. Such an appeal “shall proceed as an appeal
    de novo and may include issues raised or adjudicated in the proceedings before the
    county board of revision, as well as other issues that are raised for the first time on
    appeal and that are pertinent to the abandoned land that is the subject of those
    proceedings.” 
    Id.
    The Summit County case
    {¶ 7} In October 2017, the Summit County fiscal officer1 filed a complaint
    with the Summit County Board of Revision seeking to enforce a $4,020.28 tax lien
    by foreclosing on a residential property in Akron that was owned by US Bank.
    According to US Bank, the county fiscal officer had valued the property at an amount
    that exceeded the tax lien.
    {¶ 8} In November 2017, the board of revision held a hearing on the
    complaint. US Bank did not appear at the hearing and therefore was “in default of
    the proceedings,” R.C. 323.69(D)(1). The board, finding that US Bank had been duly
    served with a summons, entered an adjudication of foreclosure ordering that US
    Bank’s equity of redemption be extinguished upon the expiration of the 28-day
    alternative redemption period. See R.C. 323.65(J) and 323.78. In December 2017,
    the board ordered the Summit County sheriff to transfer the property to the Summit
    County Land Reutilization Corporation. The sheriff issued a deed effecting the
    transfer in January 2018.
    {¶ 9} In December 2020, US Bank filed a complaint for a writ of mandamus
    in the Ninth District Court of Appeals. US Bank alleged that the direct transfer of
    the Akron property to the Summit County land bank constituted a taking of its private
    property under Article I, Section 19 of the Ohio Constitution and the Fifth and
    1. Article IV, Section 4.01(2) of the Summit County Charter consolidates the offices of county
    auditor, county recorder, and county treasurer into a single position: county fiscal officer.
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    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and thus sought to compel
    Summit County to commence an appropriation proceeding.
    {¶ 10} The Ninth District granted Summit County’s motion to dismiss. The
    court concluded that US Bank was not entitled to a writ of mandamus, because US
    Bank “had plain and adequate remedies at law.” 
    2021-Ohio-3189
    , 
    177 N.E.3d 661
    ,
    ¶ 27.
    The Cuyahoga County case
    {¶ 11} In June 2017, the Cuyahoga County treasurer filed a complaint with
    the Cuyahoga County Board of Revision seeking to enforce a $1,498.69 tax lien by
    foreclosing on a residential property in Cleveland. The mortgage was assigned to US
    Bank in September 2017. According to US Bank, the county auditor had valued the
    property at an amount that exceeded the tax lien.
    {¶ 12} In October 2017, the board of revision held a hearing on the complaint.
    Because US Bank did not appear at the hearing, the mortgage holder was in default
    of the proceedings. See R.C. 323.69(D)(1). The board entered an adjudication of
    foreclosure ordering that all parties’ equity of redemption be extinguished upon the
    expiration of the alternative redemption period.       The board also ordered the
    Cuyahoga County sheriff to transfer the property to the Cuyahoga County Land
    Reutilization Corporation.    The sheriff issued a deed effecting the transfer in
    November 2017.
    {¶ 13} In February 2021, US Bank filed a complaint for a writ of mandamus
    in the Eighth District Court of Appeals. US Bank alleged that the direct transfer of
    the Cleveland property to the Cuyahoga County land bank constituted a taking of
    private property under the state and federal Constitutions and sought to compel
    Cuyahoga County to commence an appropriation proceeding.
    {¶ 14} The Eighth District granted the county’s motion to dismiss. The court
    of appeals concluded that US Bank lacked standing to bring the mandamus action
    because “its mortgage lien was extinguished through the foreclosure action and its
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    January Term, 2023
    own inaction or the inaction of its predecessor in interest.” 
    2021-Ohio-2524
    , ¶ 12.
    The court noted that no statute or constitutional provision prohibited the state from
    retaining proceeds in excess of the amount of the delinquent taxes. And the court
    determined that US Bank had an adequate remedy at law because it could have
    appealed the board’s judgment.
    The Lucas County case
    {¶ 15} In December 2016, the Lucas County treasurer filed a complaint with
    the Lucas County Board of Revision seeking to enforce a $7,267.27 tax lien by
    foreclosing on a residential property in Toledo. Federal Home Loan Mortgage
    Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) held a mortgage on the property. According to US
    Bank, the county auditor had valued the property at an amount that exceeded the tax
    lien.
    {¶ 16} In March 2017, the board of revision held a hearing on the complaint.
    The board found that Freddie Mac had been duly served with a summons; however,
    Freddie Mac did not appear at the hearing and therefore was in default of the
    proceedings.   See R.C. 323.69(D)(1).         The board entered an adjudication of
    foreclosure ordering that all parties’ equity of redemption be extinguished upon the
    expiration of the alternative redemption period. In April 2017, the board ordered the
    Lucas County sheriff to transfer the property to the Lucas County Land Reutilization
    Corporation. The sheriff issued a deed effecting the transfer in April 2017.
    {¶ 17} In April 2018—a year after the property was transferred to the Lucas
    County land bank and following several intervening reassignments of the
    mortgage—the mortgage was assigned to US Bank. US Bank alleges that more
    than $50,000 remains due on the mortgage loan.
    {¶ 18} In May 2021, US Bank filed a complaint for a writ of mandamus in
    the Sixth District Court of Appeals alleging that the direct transfer of the Toledo
    property to the Lucas County land bank constituted a taking under the state and
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    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    federal Constitutions.   US Bank sought to compel the commencement of an
    appropriation proceeding.
    {¶ 19} The Sixth District granted the county’s motion to dismiss. The court
    of appeals concluded that Freddie Mac “had a plain and adequate remedy at law for
    protecting its security interest in the subject property” in that it “had ample
    opportunity to challenge the direct transfer of the subject property before the Board
    of Revision and the court of common pleas.” 6th Dist. Lucas No. L-21-1087, ¶ 21
    (Aug. 5, 2021). The court explained that just because Freddie Mac had failed to
    exercise that remedy and that remedy was no longer available to US Bank did not
    mean that the remedy at law was inadequate. 
    Id.
     The court did not address whether
    US Bank lacked standing to bring the mandamus action, which the county had raised
    as an alternative argument in its motion to dismiss.
    Appeals to this court
    {¶ 20} US Bank appealed to this court in each case. We granted the parties’
    joint motions to consolidate the appeals for briefing, 
    165 Ohio St.3d 1431
    , 2021-
    Ohio-3862, 
    176 N.E.3d 53
    , and for oral argument, __ Ohio St.3d __, 
    2022-Ohio-798
    ,
    
    184 N.E.3d 126
    ; __ Ohio St.3d __, 
    2022-Ohio-798
    , 
    184 N.E.3d 127
    .
    Analysis
    Legal standard
    {¶ 21} “When a property owner alleges the taking of private property,
    mandamus is the correct action to force the state to institute appropriation
    proceedings.” State ex rel. New Wen, Inc. v. Marchbanks, 
    159 Ohio St.3d 15
    , 2020-
    Ohio-63, 
    146 N.E.3d 545
    , ¶ 15. To state a claim in mandamus, US Bank must show
    by clear and convincing evidence (1) that it has a clear legal right to appropriation
    proceedings, (2) that the counties have a clear legal duty to commence the
    proceedings, and (3) that it lacks an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the
    law. See 
    id.
    8
    January Term, 2023
    {¶ 22} We review de novo the judgments dismissing US Bank’s complaints
    for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Civ.R. 12(B)(6).
    See Lunsford v. Sterilite of Ohio, L.L.C., 
    162 Ohio St.3d 231
    , 
    2020-Ohio-4193
    , 
    165 N.E.3d 245
    , ¶ 22. We must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaints
    when reviewing the motions to dismiss. 
    Id.
     The lower courts properly dismissed the
    complaints only if it appears beyond doubt from the complaints that US Bank can
    prove no set of facts entitling it to relief. O’Brien v. Univ. Community Tenants Union,
    Inc., 
    42 Ohio St.2d 242
    , 
    327 N.E.2d 753
     (1975), syllabus.
    Standing
    {¶ 23} With regard to the Cuyahoga and Lucas County cases, the counties
    argue that US Bank lacks standing because it did not own the mortgages on the
    properties in those counties when the takings allegedly occurred. Cuyahoga County
    points out that the assignment of the mortgage to US Bank for the Cleveland property
    was recorded in November 2017 (almost a month after the adjudication of
    foreclosure), and Lucas County points out that the assignment of the mortgage to US
    Bank for the Toledo property was recorded in April 2018 (more than a year after the
    adjudication of foreclosure).
    {¶ 24} US Bank has standing in the Cuyahoga County case. Although the
    mortgage assignment to US Bank in that case was recorded in November 2017, it
    was executed in September 2017—a month before the board of revision’s
    adjudication of foreclosure. Therefore, US Bank owned the mortgage for the
    Cleveland property at the time of the alleged taking. See Sidle v. Maxwell, 
    4 Ohio St. 236
    , 241 (1854) (an unrecorded mortgage is valid as between the parties to the
    instrument); Stewart v. Hopkins, 
    30 Ohio St. 502
     (1876) (an unrecorded mortgage
    between the parties is valid); see also Bank One, N.A. v. Dillon, 9th Dist. Lorain No.
    04CA008571, 
    2005-Ohio-1950
    , ¶ 9 (“the failure or success of recording an
    instrument has no effect on its validity as between the parties to that instrument”).
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    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    {¶ 25} As for the Lucas County case, US Bank does not dispute that it did
    not own the mortgage for the Toledo property at the time of the alleged taking. And
    it is well-settled that the right to compensation belongs to whoever held the security
    interest in the property when the taking occurred. See Danforth v. United States, 
    308 U.S. 271
    , 284, 
    60 S.Ct. 231
    , 
    84 L.Ed. 240
     (1939) (“For the reason that compensation
    is due at the time of taking, the owner at that time, not the owner at an earlier or later
    date, receives the payment”); see also 2A Sackman, Nichols on Eminent Domain,
    Section 6.03[9], Practice Tip (3d Ed.2022) (“As a general rule, only property
    owners at the time of the taking have standing to pursue an action for inverse
    condemnation”); Knight v. Billings, 
    197 Mont. 165
    , 176, 
    642 P.2d 141
     (1982) (“the
    right to an inverse condemnation remedy does not pass to subsequent purchasers
    after the inverse condemnation”). US Bank argues that its predecessor in interest
    assigned its “rights under the mortgage” to US Bank, including “the right to receive
    any excess proceeds” from the foreclosure proceeding. But because there was no
    sale of the foreclosed property, no proceeds were generated. And US Bank has not
    shown that a takings claim was assigned to it when it acquired the mortgage.
    Accordingly, we hold that US Bank lacks standing in the Lucas County case.
    Adequate remedy
    {¶ 26} Each of the counties argue that US Bank’s complaints were properly
    dismissed because it had adequate remedies in the ordinary course of the law. An
    appeal usually is a sufficient remedy that precludes relief in mandamus. State ex rel.
    Durrani v. Ruehlman, 
    147 Ohio St.3d 478
    , 
    2016-Ohio-7740
    , 
    67 N.E.2d 769
    , ¶ 15.
    {¶ 27} We addressed whether the availability of an administrative appeal is
    an adequate remedy at law in State ex rel. Kerns v. Simmers, 
    153 Ohio St.3d 103
    ,
    
    2018-Ohio-256
    , 
    101 N.E.3d 430
    . In that case, several landowners sought a writ of
    mandamus to compel the commencement of appropriation proceedings by the Ohio
    Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management
    (“the division”) after their properties were included in an oil-and-gas drilling unit
    10
    January Term, 2023
    under R.C. 1509.28. Id. at ¶ 2-4. The landowners appealed the division chief’s
    administrative order for unitization to the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, which
    dismissed the appeal. Id. at ¶ 3. Although the landowners had the right to appeal the
    Oil and Gas Commission’s dismissal of their appeal to a common pleas court under
    R.C. 1509.37, they failed to do so. Id. at ¶ 7-8.
    {¶ 28} We did not issue a writ of mandamus in Kerns, because an appeal to
    the common pleas court—though not taken by the landowners—was an adequate
    remedy at law. Id. at ¶ 15. We explained that an appeal to the common pleas court
    would have provided the landowners an adequate remedy at law because, had the
    common pleas court agreed with their argument and vacated the administrative order,
    “[n]o taking would have occurred.” Id. at ¶ 8. In other words, the landowners had
    an adequate remedy because they could have asked a common pleas court to overturn
    the administrative order and potentially avoided the alleged property losses
    altogether. See id. at ¶ 12-13.
    {¶ 29} US Bank had similar—indeed, more robust—remedies in the
    underlying foreclosure cases. As an initial matter, US Bank could have redeemed
    the properties (and protected any security interests it had in the properties) by paying
    what was due on the tax liens. See R.C. 323.69(B)(1). Alternatively, US Bank could
    have sought transfers of the foreclosure actions from the boards of revision to the
    common pleas courts. As the mortgage holder in the Cuyahoga County case, US
    Bank could have requested a transfer of the proceedings to the common pleas court
    “in order to preserve [its] * * * security interest of record in the land,” R.C.
    323.72(A)(2)(b). See also R.C. 323.691(A)(1). And as the landowner in the Summit
    County case, US Bank had an absolute right to have that case transferred to the
    common pleas court. See R.C. 323.69(B)(2) and 323.70(B). In addition, US Bank
    could have appealed the boards’ adjudications of foreclosure to the common pleas
    courts in both cases. See R.C. 323.79. On appeal, the common pleas courts would
    have reviewed the adjudications of foreclosure de novo, and US Bank could have
    11
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    raised new issues for the first time. See id. As in Kerns, the relevant statutory scheme
    applicable here provided a way for US Bank to try to avoid any property loss.
    {¶ 30} US Bank resists the application of Kerns, arguing that Kerns “is
    limited to issues arising under R.C. Chapter 1509.” But Kerns is not so limited; we
    applied settled law in that case, which provides that “ ‘[t]he writ of mandamus, at
    common law, was a prerogative writ, introduced to prevent discord from a failure of
    justice, and to be used on occasions where the law had established no specific
    remedy.’ ” (Brackets added in Kerns.) Id., 
    153 Ohio St.3d 103
    , 
    2018-Ohio-256
    , 
    101 N.E.3d 430
    , at ¶ 5, quoting Shelby v. Hoffman, 
    7 Ohio St. 450
    , 455 (1857). Like the
    property owners in Kerns, US Bank had the ability to obtain complete relief—i.e., to
    avoid the alleged takings and any need for appropriation proceedings—by asserting
    its rights as allowed by statute. See Kerns at ¶ 12.
    {¶ 31} US Bank argues that the available remedies in the ordinary course of
    the law would not have provided it with complete relief, because a court could not
    have conducted an appropriation proceeding in each of these three cases. US Bank
    argues that it had to sit by and do nothing while the foreclosure actions ran their
    course, because only after the properties had been transferred to the county land
    banks could it claim that it had been harmed. In making this argument, US Bank
    assumes that its alleged losses were unavoidable—that the boards of revision (or
    perhaps the common pleas courts) would have ordered direct transfers of the
    properties to the land banks no matter what. But the direct transfers became
    inevitable only because no interested party objected to the proceedings. As we made
    clear in Kerns, when the law provides an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of
    the law to avoid a loss of property, a party cannot seek an extraordinary writ instead
    of pursuing that remedy. See Kerns at ¶ 8, 12-13. US Bank has not shown that it
    could not have protected its security interests in the properties through the available
    court proceedings. See New Wen, 
    159 Ohio St.3d 15
    , 
    2020-Ohio-63
    , 
    146 N.E.3d 12
    January Term, 2023
    545, at ¶ 15 (it is the relator’s burden to establish the absence of an adequate remedy
    in the ordinary course of the law).
    {¶ 32} As a final matter, US Bank relies on Domito v. Maumee, 
    140 Ohio St. 229
    , 
    42 N.E.2d 984
     (1942), in support of its argument that it may challenge the
    constitutionality of the direct transfers outside the statutory process created under
    R.C. 323.65 et seq. Domito involved a property owner’s attempt to enjoin a
    municipality from collecting a special assessment against his land on the ground that
    the assessment constituted an unconstitutional taking. Id. at 229. The property owner
    in Domito, however, did not pursue a mandamus claim seeking to compel the
    commencement of an appropriation proceeding. Domito, therefore, did not address
    the issue at hand—whether a party seeking extraordinary-writ relief for an alleged
    unconstitutional taking of private property had an adequate remedy in the ordinary
    course of the law.
    {¶ 33} Because US Bank had an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of
    the law in the Cuyahoga and Summit County cases, the Eighth District and the Ninth
    District Courts of Appeals, respectively, properly dismissed US Bank’s complaints.
    Therefore, we need not address US Bank’s remaining arguments.
    Conclusion
    {¶ 34} We affirm the judgment of the Sixth District Court of Appeals because
    US Bank lacks standing in the Lucas County case. We affirm the judgments of the
    Eighth District and the Ninth District Courts of Appeals because US Bank had an
    adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law in the Cuyahoga and Summit
    County cases, respectively.
    Judgments affirmed.
    KENNEDY, C.J., and DEWINE, DONNELLY, STEWART, BRUNNER, and
    BYRNE, JJ., concur.
    MATTHEW R. BYRNE, J., of the Twelfth District Court of Appeals, sitting
    for DETERS, J.
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    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    _________________
    Advocate Attorneys, L.L.P., Andrew M. Engel, and Marc E. Dann, for
    appellant.
    Roetzel & Andress, L.P.A., and Stephen W. Funk, for appellees.
    Jay R. Carson, urging reversal for amicus curiae The Buckeye Institute in
    case No. 2021-1181.
    Oliver J. Dunford, urging reversal for amicus curiae Pacific Legal
    Foundation in case No. 2021-1181.
    Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Charles W.
    Anness, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, urging affirmance for amicus curiae Ohio
    Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
    Yourkvitch & Dibo, L.L.C., and Matthew P. Yourkvitch, urging affirmance
    for amici curiae County Commissioners Association of Ohio, County Treasurers
    Association of Ohio, County Auditors Association of Ohio, and Ohio Mayors
    Alliance.
    _________________
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