Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Eve Belfance.

Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Eve Belfance.

Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Eve Belfance served as a visiting judge on the Ohio Supreme Court today and heard oral arguments in a Cleveland zoning dispute case.

Judge Belfance replaced Justice William M. O’Neill,who recused himself from Cleveland Clinic Foundation, et al. v. Bd of Zoning Appeals, City of Cleveland, (Case No. 2013-0654). The case concerned whether Cleveland’s Board of Zoning Appeals properly ruled that a helipad was not permitted under the zoning where Fairview Hospital is located.

According to the Ohio Constitution, in the event of a recusal by a justice, the chief justice can select any of the 69 sitting Ohio appellate court judges to sit temporarily on the Supreme Court.

Judge Belfance last served as a visiting judge on the Supreme Court in September 2011.

Since 2008, she has served on the appellate bench. Previously Judge Belfance served as an Akron Municipal Court judge from 2005 through 2007. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1984, and then earned her law degree from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1990. She was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio on November 5, 1990.

“It has truly been an honor and privilege to serve in Ohio’s highest court,” Judge Belfance said.

The Ninth District Court of Appeals serves four counties in northeast Ohio, and hears cases from county, municipal and common pleas courts as well as original actions in habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, procedendo and quo warranto.