Bishop v. Bishop

934 N.E.2d 420, 188 Ohio App. 3d 98
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 22, 2010
DocketNos. 09CA3 and 09CA4
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 934 N.E.2d 420 (Bishop v. Bishop) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bishop v. Bishop, 934 N.E.2d 420, 188 Ohio App. 3d 98 (Ohio Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} Appellant, Felix Bishop, appeals the dismissal of his claims by the Jackson County Common Pleas Court, as well as the trial court’s subsequent denial of his Civ.R. 60(B) motion. On appeal, appellant raises three assignments of error, contending that (1) the trial judge committed prejudicial error by dismissing the complaint, in that the court did have jurisdiction to grant one or more aspects of the relief demanded, (2) the trial judge committed prejudicial error by denying appellant’s Civ.R. 60(B) motion, and (3) the trial judge committed prejudicial error by failing to grant appellant’s motion for default judgment and to strike the purported answer. Because we find that the trial court erred in dismissing appellant’s claim for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, we sustain appellant’s first assignment of error and reverse the trial court’s dismissal of appellant’s complaint. In light of our disposition of appellant’s first assignment of error, appellant’s second assignment of error has been rendered moot. Further, because the record reflects that the trial court failed to rule on appellant’s pending motions for default judgment and motion to strike, we decline to address these issues for the first time on appeal. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed and this matter is remanded.

[101]*101FACTS

{¶ 2} Appellant, Felix Bishop, filed a complaint in the Jackson County Court of Common Pleas on January 21, 2009, naming as defendants Randall, Gregory, Richard, and Debbie Bishop.2 Randall, Gregory, and Richard are appellant’s nephews, sons of appellant’s deceased brother, Carl Bishop. Debbie Bishop is the wife of Randall. In the complaint, appellant alleged that upon making the decision to relocate from Texas to Jackson County, Ohio, at the age of 82, he entered into an agreement with his brother Carl, whereby Carl would act on appellant’s behalf, as his agent, in order to negotiate the purchase of a home for appellant. Appellant alleged that pursuant to this agreement, Carl purchased real estate and a mobile home from Donald and Wanda Lytle and paid for them with two checks written from appellant to Carl, totaling $52,000. Appellant alleged that Carl made all the closing arrangements but instead of having the property placed in appellant’s name, Carl placed both the real property and the mobile home in his own name and had a separate deed drafted that granted appellant a life estate only in the real estate.

{¶ 3} Appellant alleged that he moved onto the property and that when he questioned his brother Carl about obtaining a copy of the deed, Carl informed him that it was still at the courthouse. Appellant claimed that he did not find out about Carl’s actions until some later point, at which time he confronted Carl and Carl agreed to transfer the property to appellant. Appellant further alleged that some of the defendants interfered with the planned transfer and that Carl died on August 29, 2006, without having transferred the property to appellant.

{¶ 4} Appellant alleged that Carl’s estate was administered in the Jackson County Probate Court and that as part of the administration of the estate, the property at issue was transferred to Randall, Gregory, and Richard. Appellant claimed that he was entitled to relief based upon theories of mutual mistake, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, self dealing, and conversion. As a result, appellant demanded that the court reform the deeds to the real estate, the certificate of title to the mobile home, and the certificates of transfer of each ordered by the probate court. Appellant further demanded that the court impose a constructive trust over both the real and personal property and order appellees to transfer the title and deeds to appellant.

{¶ 5} A review of the record reveals that none of the appellees, with the exception of Gregory Bishop, filed an answer to the complaint below. Although Gregory filed a document purporting to be a pro se answer, the document failed to include a certificate of service. Appellant filed a motion for default judgment [102]*102on February 19, 2009, requesting that the court grant judgment in his favor against Randall, Richard, and Debbie Bishop. Then, on March 3, 2009, appellant filed a motion for default judgment and motion to strike against Gregory, requesting that the court strike Gregory’s answer.

{¶ 6} After these motions were filed, the trial judge recused himself due to a conflict of interest raised by appellee Gregory Bishop, and a new judge was appointed. By order dated April 15, 2009, the trial court ordered that appellant brief the issue whether the common pleas court had jurisdiction over the claims that had been raised. Appellant filed a memorandum on jurisdiction on April 29, 2009; however, on May 7, 2009, the trial court sua sponte dismissed appellant’s complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The trial court seemed to base its decision largely on the fact that the property at issue, the real estate and the mobile home, had already been disposed of and distributed by the probate court during the administration of Carl’s estate. The trial court also appears to have based its decision, in part, on the fact that no claim had been filed against Carl himself, his administrator, or his estate. In dismissing appellant’s complaint based upon lack of jurisdiction, the trial court did not reach the merits of appellant’s pending motions for default judgment and to strike.

{¶ 7} Appellant then filed a supplemental memorandum of jurisdiction on May 11, 2009, which the trial court refused to consider by order dated May 19, 2009, treating it as an improper motion for reconsideration. On the same day, appellant filed a motion to vacate pursuant to Civ.R. 60(B), which was subsequently denied by the trial court. Appellant filed separate notices of appeal from the dismissal of his complaint and the denial of his Civ.R. 60(B) motion; however, these eases have been consolidated for consideration by this court. On appeal, appellant raises the following assignments of error for our review.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

I. The trial judge committed prejudicial error by dismissing the complaint, in that he did have jurisdiction to grant one or more aspects of the relief demanded.

II. The trial judge committed prejudicial error by denying the plaintiffs Rule 60(b) motion.

III. The trial judge committed prejudicial error by failing to grant plaintiffs motion for default judgment and to strike the purported answer.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR I

{¶ 8} In his first assignment of error, appellant contends that the trial judge committed prejudicial error by dismissing the complaint because the trial court [103]*103had jurisdiction to grant one or more aspects of the relief demanded. The relief demanded by appellant in his complaint included the reformation of several documents (the deed from Lytle to Carl, the mobile-home title from Lytle to Carl, and the deed from Carl to Felix, as well as the certificate of transfers and mobile-home title ultimately placing the real property and mobile home in the hands of appellees through the estate-administration process) and the imposition of a constructive trust over the property at issue, ordering that appellees transfer the title to the mobile home and the deed to the real property to appellant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
934 N.E.2d 420, 188 Ohio App. 3d 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bishop-v-bishop-ohioctapp-2010.