The Ohio Supreme Court this morning announced decisions in nine cases, including one case about the constitutionality of allocating certain Commercial Activity Tax revenues and one attorney discipline case.

As part of a year-end transition process in which the Supreme Court is releasing a large number of decisions this week, the court announced its rulings in the following cases: (to view the court’s full opinion in a case, click on the hyperlink and scroll down to the last item on the docket).

Use of CAT Revenues From Sale of Motor Vehicle Fuel For Non-Highway Purposes Is Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court ruled today that the state tax law imposing a Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) on the gross receipts of most Ohio businesses, and allocating the revenues generated by that tax to the state’s General Fund, is unconstitutional as applied to CAT taxes that are collected on gross receipts from the sale of motor vehicle fuel. The court stated that today’s ruling is to be applied only prospectively, that is, to allocations of CAT revenues after the date of today’s decision. (View a complete summary of Beaver Excavating Co. v. Levin.)

Suspended Attorneys
The court issued an indefinite suspension from the practice of law for Columbus attorney John J. Peden for 12 different violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct. The court found those violations included neglecting clients’ legal matters, client trust account overdrafts, mismanaging client trust accounts, and misappropriating client funds. Columbus Bar Assn. V. Peden.

View oral argument video of this case.

Other Entries
Seven entries decide the outcome of cases that were held on the authority of decisions in similar cases. In addition, the court announced one motion and procedural ruling. Details are available in the announcement.

Please note: Opinion summaries are prepared by the Office of Public Information for the general public and news media. Opinion summaries are not prepared for every opinion, but only for noteworthy cases. Opinion summaries are not to be considered as official headnotes or syllabi of court opinions. The full text of this and other court opinions are available online.

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