Brown v. Allala

2014 Ohio 4917
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 5, 2014
Docket27086
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2014 Ohio 4917 (Brown v. Allala) 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
Brown v. Allala, 2014 Ohio 4917 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

[Cite as Brown v. Allala, 2014-Ohio-4917.]

STATE OF OHIO ) IN THE COURT OF APPEALS )ss: NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COUNTY OF SUMMIT )

LARISSA D. BROWN C.A. No. 27086

Appellant

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE PATRICK N. ALLALA COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO Appellee CASE No. 2007-08-2575

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY

Dated: November 5, 2014

MOORE, Judge.

{¶1} Appellant, Larissa Brown, appeals the order of the Summit Court of Common

Pleas, Domestic Relations Division, that temporarily reduced child support to zero. This Court

affirms.

I.

{¶2} Ms. Brown and appellee, Patrick Allala, are the parents of a daughter. They never

married, but in 2007, Mr. Allala acknowledged paternity, the couple agreed that Ms. Brown

would have full custody of their daughter, and Mr. Allala was subsequently ordered to pay child

support. His child support obligation increased to $536.75 in 2008. In 2011, the Child Support

Enforcement Agency (“CSEA”) conducted an administrative review of the support obligation

and recommended a slight increase. Mr. Allala requested a hearing on the modification because

he had recently lost his job when his employer declined to renew sponsorship of his H-1B work

visa. The hearing officer reduced his child support obligation to $0 until Mr. Allala could obtain 2

employment, noting that Ms. Brown “retain[ed] the right to ask that the order be modified when

[Mr. Allala] obtains his work visa allowing him to seek employment.”

{¶3} Ms. Brown filed a request for judicial review of the administrative decision in the

trial court. After conducting a hearing, a magistrate recommended suspending Mr. Allala’s

obligation to pay child support from December 1, 2011, through November 30, 2012, or until he

secured employment, whichever occurred first. The trial court entered judgment on the

magistrate’s decision immediately, and Ms. Brown filed timely objections. The trial court

overruled Ms. Brown’s objections, but modified its decision to provide that Mr. Allala’s child

support obligation was reduced to zero until he either obtained employment or no longer resided

in the United States.

{¶4} Ms. Brown appealed. This Court determined that the trial court erred by failing to

incorporate a current child support worksheet into the record. Brown v. Allala, 9th Dist. Summit

No. 26689, 2013-Ohio-3507, ¶ 10. We reversed on that basis alone, concluding that without the

child support worksheet, we could not adequately review the trial court’s decision. Id. at ¶ 10,

12. This Court declined to consider Ms. Brown’s remaining assignments of error and remanded

the matter for proceedings consistent with our opinion. Id. at ¶ 12.

{¶5} On remand, the trial court entered the same order, but noted that a child support

worksheet had been completed and was attached. Ms. Brown filed another appeal, asserting five

assignments of error.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR I

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT FAILED TO HOLD A HEARING PRIOR TO ISSUING AN ORDER OF NON-SUPPORT FOLLOWING A MANDATE FROM THIS COURT OF JUDGMENT [OF] REVERSAL AND CAUSE [SIC] REMAND IN APPEAL NUMBER C.A. 26689[.] 3

{¶6} Ms. Brown’s first assignment of error is that the trial court disregarded this

Court’s mandate when it failed to conduct a hearing following the remand in her prior appeal.

We disagree.

{¶7} The doctrine of the law of the case “limits the actions that a trial court may take

on remand to the scope of the reviewing court’s mandate and places a corresponding limitation

on the ability of an appellant to assert error in subsequent appeals.” Allen v. Bennett, 9th Dist.

Summit No. 24124, 2008-Ohio-4554, ¶ 9. See also Pingue v. Hyslop, 10th Dist. Franklin No.

01AP-1000, 2002-Ohio-2879, ¶ 35. A trial court errs by conducting an evidentiary hearing on

remand that exceeds the scope of an appellate court mandate. See Allen at ¶ 9-10. Conversely:

It is well established that “‘[a] trial court must follow the mandate of the appellate court.’” State v. Pendergrass, 9th Dist. Lorain No. 04CA008437, 2004-Ohio- 5688 ¶ 9, quoting Pingue v. Hyslop, 10th Dist. Franklin No. 01AP–1000, 2002- Ohio-2879, ¶ 22. This court has held * * * “When this Court, as is its customary practice, remands a case for further proceedings, this does not necessarily mean that we order some sort of hearing to be held upon remand. Rather, this language simply designates that the case is to return to the trial court to ‘take further action in accordance with applicable law.’” Id. at ¶ 10, quoting Chapman v. Ohio State Dental Bd., 33 Ohio App.3d 324, 328 (1986). Further, an appellate court may or may not specify the nature of the further proceedings, and in fact, should not do so if the trial court has the discretion as to the nature of the remand proceedings. Id., citing State v. Chinn, 2d Dist. No. 16764, 2000 WL 1458784 (Aug. 21, 1998).

Evanich v. Bridge, 170 Ohio App.3d 653, 2007-Ohio-1349, ¶ 18-19 (9th Dist.).

{¶8} In Ms. Brown’s last appeal, we determined that without a child support

worksheet, we could not review the trial court’s decision properly. Brown, 2013-Ohio-3507, at ¶

10. Accordingly, we “sustain[ed] Ms. Brown’s third assignment of error and remand[ed] the

matter so that the trial court [could] complete a child support worksheet and undertake the

appropriate statutory analysis thereafter.” Id. Our mandate did not require the trial court to

conduct a hearing, and the trial court did not err by declining to do so. 4

{¶9} In the context of this assignment of error, Ms. Brown also notes that the child

support worksheet now attached to the trial court’s judgment inaccurately designates her as the

obligor. In light of the facts that the trial court’s decision is clear that Mr. Allala is actually the

obligor and that decision and the worksheet are consistent in all other respects, this Court

attributes the single inconsistency to a scrivener’s error.

{¶10} Ms. Brown’s first assignment of error is overruled.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR II

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW WHEN IT FAILED TO ISSUE A MANDATORY MINIMUM ORDER OF SUPPORT AND BASED SUCH DETERMINATION ON FACTS NOT FOUND BY THE TRIER OF FACT[.]

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR III

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY TERMINATING AN ALIEN FATHER’S CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATION UNTIL HE OBTAINS EMPLOYMENT OR NO LONGER LIVES IN THE UNITED STATES[.]

{¶11} It is difficult to discern the basis for Ms. Brown’s second and third assignments of

error from her brief, but they appear to argue that the trial court erred (1) by reducing Mr.

Allala’s child support obligation to zero for an improper reason and (2) by ordering zero dollars

in child support when that determination was not supported by the evidence. In both respects,

we review the trial court’s decision for an abuse of discretion. Staugler v. Staugler, 160 Ohio

App.3d 690, 2005-Ohio-1916, ¶ 15 (3rd Dist.).

{¶12} Under R.C. 3119.06, “in any action in which a court issues or modifies a child

support order or in any other proceeding in which a court determines the amount of child support

to be paid pursuant to a child support order, the court shall issue a minimum child support order

requiring the obligor to pay a minimum of fifty dollars a month.” Nonetheless, R.C. 3119.06

permits a trial court to order child support in amounts less than $50 per month or to require no 5

support “in its discretion and in appropriate circumstances.” Id. The statute provides only one

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2014 Ohio 4917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-allala-ohioctapp-2014.