Appeals court affirms decision: Trumbull County gets estate tax

Staff report

WARREN

The 11th District Court of Appeals has affirmed a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court decision awarding $3.8 million from the estate of John C. Rebhan to Vienna Township.

The city of Warren appealed the decision by Judge R.R. Denny Clunk of Alliance, a retired Stark County probate judge sitting by assignment, saying Warren was in line to receive the money because Rebhan owned a home at 3625 E. Market St. in the city.

Rebhan was a Trumbull County industrialist who died in 2008 in Florida.

Judge Clunk and the appellate court agreed that the place Rebhan called home was a mansion at 5000 Creekside Boulevard in Vienna, where he lived at the time of his death.

Former Phar-Mor owner Mickey Monus began constructing the home but didn’t complete it. Rebhan acquired it in 1996, worked on it and began living there in 2001 or 2002.

Rebhan owned Warren Fabricating Corp. in Warren Township and other Trumbull County factories. He also owned properties in Boardman Township, Lordstown, and Sandusky, which shared estate taxes of $46,735.

Warren received estate taxes of $165,123.

Court documents say Rebhan acquired the East Market Street home in 1976 and used it for his daughter’s wedding in 1995, but had lived in Vienna from about 2001 until his death.