In the case of Marietta v. Washington Cty. Bd. of Commrs., 4th Dist. Washington No. 19CA1, 2019-Ohio-3883, an Ohio appellate court held that a city’s law director may retain outside counsel to prosecute a case that a city ordinance required that the city law director handle.
In this case, a city and county entered into a contract to construct a sanitary sewer collection system. The city brought a legal claim, through special outside counsel, against the county alleging that the county breached the contract by failing to begin construction on the sanitary sewer collection system. The county responded that the city’s special outside counsel was not authorized to bring the action on the city’s behalf.
The Ohio appellate court held that a city’s law director is only obligated to bring claims on behalf of a city when specifically authorized to do so by a city ordinance. In this case, the city’s ordinance only mandated that legal matters “shall be handled” by the law director. When construing the phrase “shall be handled, the Ohio appellate court held that the plain language of the ordinance allowed the law director to hire outside legal counsel as long the city law director maintained overall supervision and management of the outside legal counsel’s prosecution of the action.
To read this case, click here.
Authors: Matthew John Markling and the McGown & Markling Team.
Note: This blog entry does not constitute – nor does it contain – legal advice. Legal jurisprudence is always changing like the Midwestern weather. As a result, this single blog entry cannot substitute for consultation with a McGown & Markling attorney. If legal advice is needed with respect to a specific factual situation, please feel free to contact a McGown & Markling attorney.