The Ohio Supreme Court reversed itself Tuesday in a prevailing wage dispute on Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) projects, ruling without explanation that it had previously accepted an appeal on the case “improvidently” and dismissing the matter.
The case dealt with a school construction project in the Barberton district, which was sued by Associated Builders and Contractors of Northern Ohio, an unsuccessful bidder on the project and several local taxpayers. They argued that Barberton had exceeded its legal authority by requiring bids to specify prevailing wage.
A trial court dismissed the case, finding the plaintiffs had no standing to file a common law “taxpayer” challenge because they hadn’t suffered damages different than those sustained by every other Barberton resident and property owner. The Ninth District Court of Appeals concurred in the finding of lack of standing.
The Supreme Court originally ruled in September to accept the case on plaintiffs’ first proposition of law, in which they argued they had proper standing. Oral arguments in the case took place in April.
The dismissal follows emergency motions filed in March by Barberton and OSFC, which argued that the case was moot because of OSFC’s Feb. 24 action to rescind bidding policies in place under the Strickland administration and specifically prohibit acceptance of any contracts that mandated wage levels.