Ohio Supreme Court rejects Moundbuilders appeal
When the long-awaited trial over the value of Moundbuilders Country Club’s lease on the Octagon Mounds finally is before a jury, the country club won’t have any witnesses.
Moundbuilders had appealed an Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, but the state’s highest court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal.
This dismissal means the case returns to Licking County Common Pleas Court and clears the way for the valuation trial.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in December 2022 that the Ohio History Connection could take Moundbuilders Country Club by eminent domain and transform the golf course property, which includes the Newark Earthworks’ Octagon Mounds, into a public park. The remaining issue is how much Ohio History Connection must pay Moundbuilders to buy out the lease, which runs until 2078.
Moundbuilders appealed to the 5th District Court of Appeals an October pretrial ruling by Licking County Common Pleas Judge David Branstool against all expert testimony provided by the country club’s witnesses about the valuation. The 5th District stated it did not have jurisdiction and dismissed the appeal. Moundbuilders then appealed that dismissal to the Ohio Supreme Court, which also dismissed it.
Joe Fraley, attorney for Moundbuilders, said that without any witnesses to present, it makes the country club’s case very challenging.
“For a trial to go forward on valuation where one side does not have any witnesses to testify to the valuation,
is not really a trial at all,” Fraley said, because the Ohio History Connection will present what their witnesses determine the lease’s value to be and Moundbuilders will have nothing to counter with.
“Therefore the jury is just going to hear one side of the argument,” he said. “Unless the trial court changes its mind, which we will certainly ask them to do so.”
The Advocate previously reported that the Ohio History Connection argued Moundbuilders is only entitled to the fair market value of what is being taken, which is the reminder of the lease. OHC experts maintain that value is about $2 million.
Moundbuilders argued it is entitled to receive the cost to reproduce the country club and golf course at another location, or between $9.8 million and $22 million.
The Octagon Earthworks, part of an eight-site Ohio grouping called the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, received the coveted designation of a World Heritage site on Sept. 19 at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The World Heritage designation puts Newark Earthworks in the same category as Yellowstone National Park, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and the Acropolis.
Neil Thompson, a spokesman for the Ohio History Connection, said in a prepared release that the organization was pleased that the trial over the lease can now continue after this recent dismissal.
“We continue to respect the ongoing legal process surrounding the Octagon Earthworks as we await the outcome of the jury trial to determine the fair market value for the Moundbuilders Country Club’s lease on the property,” he wrote. “Our guiding principles throughout this process remain the same: to enable full public access to the Octagon Earthworks while ensuring the country club receives fair market value for the lease.” mdevito@gannett.com 740-607-2175