ROME ROCK ASSN. v. PUB. UTIL. COMM., 66 Ohio St.2d 38 (1981)

419 N.E.2d 13

ROME ROCK ASSOCIATION, INC., APPELLANT, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO ET AL., APPELLEES.

No. 80-1358Supreme Court of Ohio.
Decided April 8, 1981.

Public Utilities Commission — Rate increase proceedings — Petition for leave to intervene — Properly denied, when.

APPEALS from the Public Utilities Commission.

Appellant, Rome Rock Association, Inc., is a corporation representing the interests of landowners residing within the jurisdiction of the Lakeside Utilities Corp., the intervening appellee herein. Appellant seeks to bring these appeals from a series of orders of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, appellee, which, inter alia, denied the appellant’s petition for leave to intervene in the proceedings which granted Lakeside Utilites an increase in the rates it charges for water and sewer service.

The cause is now before this court on appeals as of right.

Mr. Richard L. Goodman, Robert R. Hussey, Co., L.P.A., and Mr. Robert R. Hussey, for appellant.

Mr. William J. Brown, attorney general, Mr. Marvin I. Resnik
and Mr. Harris S. Leven, for appellee.

Mr. Gerald P. Wadkowski, for intervenor-appellee.

Per Curiam.

Appellant association contends that the appearance of two of its members at the hearing on the rate increase before the attorney examiner for the Public Utilities Commission, followed by the reading of a statement into the record and the submission to cross-examination, are sufficient

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to allow the appellant the status of a party to the proceedings. An examination of the transcript of the proceedings, however, leads this court to the conclusion that all the participants considered the appearance of the two association members to be strictly for the purpose of making a public statement to be considered by the commission in making its determination. The members did not make it known at that time that they desired to become formal parties, and in fact did not even clearly identify themselves as members of the appellant association until inquiry was made upon cross-examination.

Appellant points to Duff v. Pub. Util. Comm. (1978), 56 Ohio St.2d 367, as supportive of its petition to intervene. However, Duff, the intervenor in that case, had effectively petitioned to be made a party to the proceedings prior to the time of the public hearing. See In re Application of United Telephone Co., P.U.C.O. case No. 75-442-TP-AIR (Nov. 23, 1976), at 2.

Here, the commission’s denial of appellant’s petition for leave to intervene, which had been filed almost one month after the commission’s opinion and order, was reasonable and the appellant has no standing to bring the instant appeals. Harrison v. Pub. Util. Comm. (1983), 134 Ohio St. 346, 347.

The appeals are hereby dismissed, sua sponte.

Appeals dismissed.

CELEBREZZE, C.J., W. BROWN, P. BROWN, SWEENEY, LOCHER, HOLMES and C. BROWN, JJ., concur.

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