Justice Pat Fischer, quoting longtime Cincinnati Reds radio announcer Marty Brennaman

On November 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in Cincinnati Reds, L.L.C. v. Testa, 2018-Ohio-4669. In an opinion written by Cincinnati Justice Pat Fischer, the Court held that the Reds do not have to pay a use tax on promotional give-away items like bobbleheads, reversing the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals. Only Justice French joined the lead opinion in full. Chief Justice O’Connor and Justices O’Donnell and Kennedy concurred in judgment only.  Justice DeGenaro dissented, joined by Judge Christine Mayle of Ohio’s Sixth District Court of Appeals, who subbed for the recused Justice DeWine. The case was argued June 13, 2018.

As I have fessed up many times, tax is just not my thing (although baseball is). So, analysis of this decision must await the keen tax mind of my teaching-days-colleague at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Professor Stephanie Hunter McMahon. Read her earlier analysis of the oral argument in the case here. Coming soon, she promises.