Ohio Court of Appeals Finds Class, Subclass Lack Standing for Insufficient Injury from Incorrect Tax Forms

The Ohio Court of Appeals, Eighth Appellate District, reversed the trial court’s certification of classes and subclasses in a long-running tax dispute case. The litigation involved shareholders suing Centerior Energy (Centerior) and Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. (CEI) for allegedly issuing incorrect tax forms in the 1980s-90s that mischaracterized distributions as dividends rather than returns of capital, which potentially resulted in higher tax liability. The court found that for Centerior, the law-of-the-case doctrine precluded reconsideration of class certification after a prior appellate ruling, while for CEI, the court determined that taxpayers lacked standing because they failed to demonstrate concrete injuries from ...