ATHENS, Ohio — The city of Athens on Monday filed a formal appeal of a local court decision blocking its plastic bag ban.
The city has yet to put forward its full argument in the case. Its Monday court filing states that it believes Athens County Court of Common Pleas Judge George McCarthy erred in granting the State of Ohio’s motion for summary judgment in the case. The filing also states that the city reserves the right to bring forward additional objections when it files a brief to explain its claims in more detail.
Athens City Law Director Lisa Eliason told the Independent that the city will file its brief soon, as state law requires that it do so within 20 days of records transferring to the appeals court.
In late August, McCarthy agreed with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office that the changes to the city’s code of ordinances directly contradicts state law. He issued a permanent injunction against the city, meaning the city may not enforce the ordinance.
Athens City Council voted on Sept. 3 to appeal the decision. The city’s notice of appeal, filed in the Court of Common Pleas on Monday, officially brings the case to Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals.
When summary judgment is granted – as it was in this case – all parties agree on the material facts relevant to a claim, and that claim does not go to trial. Instead, a judge makes a decision on the claim.
Eliason declined to comment on the nature of the city’s objections to McCarthy granting summary judgment in the case. However, she said “some of them have been stated already in the media.” Eliason specifically cited retired Athens County Court of Common Pleas Judge Tom Hodson’s “Inside Courts” column on McCarthy’s decision, published by the Independent.
In his column, Hodson pointed out that McCarthy’s decision included facts that had not been previously presented by either side when he found that single-use plastic bags are locally recyclable. McCarthy included citations to various local stories involving recycling or reusing plastic bags, including social media posts.
As Hodson explained in his column, “The parties agreed that the original facts were not in dispute, but then the court, on its own, added these additional allegations of fact from sources beyond the record, like Facebook. The city may argue, on appeal, that these new alleged facts were not agreed upon by the parties and may in fact be disputed — thereby, negating one of the criteria for ordering a summary judgment.”
Athens had argued its ban on plastic bags would reduce plastic pollution.
The Independent separately covered the city’s Sept. 3 vote to appeal McCarthy’s decision.
At that meeting, Councilwoman Solveig Spjeldnes, 1st Ward, pointed out that “[Athens is] not the only community in Ohio that passed a plastic bag ban, but were the only one that’s been sued.”
Eliason agreed at the meeting, stating that the city objects to being “the only jurisdiction that were sued.”
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office did not return the Independent’s request for comment by press time.
Disclosure: Tom Hodson is secretary of the board of Southeast Ohio Independent News, the entity that publishes the Athens County Independent.
