Chemical Bank v. Neman

556 N.E.2d 490, 52 Ohio St. 3d 204, 1990 Ohio LEXIS 285
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 3, 1990
DocketNo. 89-1111
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 556 N.E.2d 490 (Chemical Bank v. Neman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chemical Bank v. Neman, 556 N.E.2d 490, 52 Ohio St. 3d 204, 1990 Ohio LEXIS 285 (Ohio 1990).

Opinion

H. Brown, J.

Appellant, Neman, attacks the verdict against him on two grounds, both relating to the quantity and quality of the evidence against him. Neman claims that the trial court erroneously failed to direct a verdict in his favor. We find that this issue was not properly raised on appeal. Neman also contends that the record contains insufficient evidence to support the verdict. We find that the record contains sufficient evidence to support the verdict, and affirm the judgment of the court below.

I

Appeal From the Denial of the Directed Verdict

At the close of Chemical Bank’s case in chief, Neman moved for a directed verdict on several grounds. The court denied this motion. Neman did not renew the motion at the close of all evidence.

Following the verdict, Neman moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (“JNOV”) and for a new trial, making some of the same arguments which he used in support of his directed verdict motion. This motion, too, was denied.

Neman’s notice of appeal recited that he was appealing “from the final judgment entered in this action * * * and from the judgment overruling defendant’s motions for new trial or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict * * * .” In his brief to the court of appeals, Neman raised four assignments of error: thé first three were related to the denial of the directed verdict motion, the fourth was directed to the weight of the evidence. The brief did not mention the JNOV motion, and Chemical Bank’s brief in opposition did not raise the issue of waiver.

The appellate court held that Neman’s first three assignments of error were waived because he failed to renew his motion for directed verdict at the close of all evidence. Neman filed an application for reconsideration in which he asked that his assignments of error be construed so that they would refer to the. JNOV motion instead of the directed verdict motion. This application was denied.

In the recent case of Helmick v. Republic-Franklin Ins. Co. (1988), 39 Ohio St. 3d 71, 529 N.E. 2d 464, we reaffirmed the long-standing rule that a motion for directed verdict which is denied at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence must be renewed at the close of all evidence in order to preserve the error for appeal. See Cincinnati Traction Co. v. Durack (1908), 78 Ohio St. 243, 85 N.E. 38; Zanesville v. Stotts (1913), 88 Ohio St. 557, 106 N.E. 1051; Youngstown & Suburban Ry. Co. v. Faulk (1926), 114 Ohio St. 572, 151 N.E. 747. Neman acknowledges that this rule governs the instant case, but asks that we “modify” it and hold that his JNOV motion was equivalent to a renewal of the motion for directed verdict.

The record reveals that, though Neman raised some of the same issues in both motions, they are not identical. While Neman asserted at all stages of the proceeding that there was no proof of reliance or damages, his other arguments changed at each turn.2 Fur[207]*207ther, while the same standard is used to resolve both types of motion, see, e.g., Cardinal v. Family Foot Care Centers, Inc. (1987), 40 Ohio App. 3d 181, 532 N.E. 2d 162, a directed verdict motion made at the close of plaintiffs evidence is evaluated on the evidence in the plaintiff’s case in chief, see Helmick, supra, at 73, 529 N.E. 2d at 466, while a JNOV motion is evaluated on all the evidence presented at trial. Thus, it is clear that an appeal from the ruling on a directed verdict motion and an appeal from the ruling on a JNOV motion are sufficiently different, both as a general proposition and on the specific facts before us, that one is not a substitute for the other.

Neman further contends that the court below should not have decided the case on the issue of waiver without allowing him an opportunity to argue the issue. Under App. R. 12(A), a court of appeals is not required to consider issues not argued in the briefs; however, App. R. 12(A) does not prohibit it from doing so in the exercise of its sound discretion. Toledo’s Great Eastern Shoppers City, Inc. v. Abde’s Black Angus Steak House No. III, Inc. (1986), 24 Ohio St. 3d 198, 202-203, 24 OBR 426, 429-430, 494 N.E. 2d 1101, 1104-1105.

As noted, Helmick and its predecessors are controlling. Applying this authority to the case before us, it is clear that Neman waived any claim of error in the denial of the directed verdict by failing to renew his motion at the close of all evidence. Accordingly, we find that the court below did not abuse its discretion in declining to offer the parties an opportunity to argue the waiver issue.

II

Weight and Sufficiency of Evidence

In his final proposition of law, Neman argues that the jury verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence. Two members of the panel in the court below agreed with this contention. Section 3(B)(3), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution provides that “[n]o judgment resulting from a trial by jury shall be reversed on the weight of the evidence except by concurrence of all three judges hearing the cause.” Because the third member of the panel did not agree, the verdict against Neman was affirmed.

This court is not required to determine the weight of evidence in civil matters, R.C. 2503.43, and ordinarily will not do so. State, ex rel. Kobelt, v. Baker (1940), 137 Ohio St. 337, 18 O.O. 521, 29 N.E. 2d 960. Accordingly, we will treat Neman’s fifth proposition of law as an attack on the sufficiency of the evidence. Our standard of review is found in the syllabus of C.E. Morris Co. v. Foley Construction Co. (1978), 54 Ohio St. 2d 279, 8 O.O. 3d 261, 376 N.E. 2d 578: “Judgments supported [208]*208by some competent, credible evidence going to all the essential elements of the case will not be reversed by a reviewing court as being against the manifest weight of the evidence.”

In order to establish a claim of fraud, such as the bank asserts here, the plaintiff must show:

“ ‘(a) a representation * * * of a fact,

“ ‘(b) which is material to the transaction at hand,

“ ‘(c) made falsely, with knowledge of its falsity, or with such utter disregard and recklessness as to whether it is true or false that knowledge may be inferred,

“ ‘(d) with the intent of misleading another into relying on it,

“ ‘(e) justifiable reliance upon the representation or concealment, and

“ ‘(f) a resulting injury proximately caused by the reliance.’ ” Cohen v. Lamko, Inc. (1984), 10 Ohio St. 3d 167, 169, 10 OBR 500, 502, 462 N.E. 2d 407, 409.

Neman attacks the verdict on three fronts: (1) there was no proof that he made any misleading statement, (2) the bank could not have justifiably relied on any statement he made, and (3) the damage award is not supportable because the Eastgate Realty stock, had it been attached by Chemical Bank, was worthless. We shall discuss these arguments in turn.

A

Evidence of Misleading Statement

At the debtor’s examination of Rottmayer, Neman told Lichko (the bank’s counsel) that he either had possession of the Eastgate Realty stock certificates or would be able to get them, and any attachment should be done through him.3 On application of the bank, the court directed Deputy Carrano to Neman’s office to levy on the stock.

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Bluebook (online)
556 N.E.2d 490, 52 Ohio St. 3d 204, 1990 Ohio LEXIS 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chemical-bank-v-neman-ohio-1990.