Hillman v. Brown
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[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as Hillman v. Brown, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-1652.] 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. 2012-OHIO-1652 HILLMAN, APPELLANT, v. BROWN, JUDGE, APPELLEE. [Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as Hillman v. Brown, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-1652.] Appeals Courts of appeals Jurisdiction Complaint seeking show-cause order filed in court of appeals separately from appeal of case from which allegation of contempt arose invokes neither original nor appellate jurisdiction of court Court of appeals properly dismissed complaint. (No. 2011-1790 Submitted April 4, 2012 Decided April 17, 2012.) APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, No. 11AP-22. __________________ Per Curiam. {¶ 1} We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing the complaint filed by appellant, Robert L. Hillman, for a show-cause contempt order against appellee, Judge Susan Brown of the Tenth District Court of Appeals, based on a judgment she entered in consolidated appeals involving Hillman. Hillman v. Brown, 10th Dist. No. 11AP-22 (Sept. 29, 2011). SUPREME COURT OF OHIO {¶ 2} As constitutionally created courts, courts of appeals have inherent power to punish contempt. See State ex rel. Johnson v. Perry Cty. Court, 25 Ohio St.3d 53, 54, 495 N.E.2d 16 (1986), quoting State ex rel. Turner v. Albin, 118 Ohio St. 527, 161 N.E.2d 792 (1928), paragraph one of the syllabus. But Hillman did not file his contempt motion in the pertinent appeals before the court of appeals; instead, he sought to invoke the original jurisdiction of the court of appeals with a complaint for a show-cause contempt order in a separate, new case. {¶ 3} Hillman s complaint thus invoked neither the original nor the appellate jurisdiction of the court of appeals under the Ohio Constitution, Article IV, Section 3(B), and was properly dismissed. See Brock v. Niemeyer, 130 Ohio St.3d 80, 2011-Ohio-4704, 955 N.E.2d 981, ¶ 1. Judgment affirmed. O CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O DONNELL, LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. __________________ Robert L. Hillman, pro se. Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Eric Butcher-Lyden and Damian W. Sikora, Assistant Attorneys General, for appellee. ______________________ 2
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