Fremont Cutting Dies, Inc. v. Trigo Quality Solutions US, Inc.

2025 Ohio 5167
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 14, 2025
DocketS-25-022
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 Ohio 5167 (Fremont Cutting Dies, Inc. v. Trigo Quality Solutions US, Inc.) 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
Fremont Cutting Dies, Inc. v. Trigo Quality Solutions US, Inc., 2025 Ohio 5167 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

[Cite as Fremont Cutting Dies, Inc. v. Trigo Quality Solutions US, Inc., 2025-Ohio-5167.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT SANDUSKY COUNTY

Fremont Cutting Dies, Inc. Court of Appeals No. S-25-002

Appellee Trial Court No. 23 CV 205

v.

Trigo Quality Solutions US. Inc. DECISION AND JUDGMENT

Appellant Decided: November 14, 2025

*****

Andrew Mayle, Richard Gillum, Benjamin Padanilam, and Nichole Papageorgiou, for appellee.

Matthew Kemp, for appellant.

***** SULEK, P.J.

{¶ 1} Appellant Trigo Quality Solutions US, Inc. (“Trigo”) appeals the

judgment of the Sandusky County Court of Common Pleas, following a bench

trial, which awarded $116,500 in damages to appellee Fremont Cutting Dies, Inc.

(“Fremont”) on its claim for breach of contract. For the reasons that follow, the

trial court’s judgment is affirmed. I. Factual Background and Procedural History

{¶ 2} Trigo is a third-party parts inspection service. In 2011, it needed to

acquire space to complete an extended project for Whirlpool. Trigo found a

suitable 12,500-square foot location, which was the east bay of a two-bay

warehouse operated by Fremont.

{¶ 3} On March 28, 2011, Trigo and Fremont entered into a lease

agreement.1 The agreement provided that Trigo was to “commit no act of waste

and shall take good care of the Premises,” “maintain the leased premises in a clean

and orderly manner,” and “surrender them at the termination of the lease in the

condition found, ordinary wear and tear accepted (sic).”

{¶ 4} In March 2022, Trigo ended the lease and vacated the premises.

Fremont filed its complaint for breach of contract on March 10, 2023. Ultimately,

the matter proceeded to a one-day bench trial on October 3, 2024.

{¶ 5} The dispute in this case centers on two things: (1) whether and to

what extent Trigo damaged the warehouse walls, and (2) the appropriate amount

of damages.

{¶ 6} At the trial, Jason Binger testified to the condition of the premises

before Trigo moved in. He stated that in 2011 Fremont tasked him with cleaning

out the warehouse to prepare it for Trigo, which he worked on intermittently for

1 Trigo was formerly known as The PIC Group, Inc. and entered into the lease agreement under that name. Trigo does not distinguish between the two entities in its appellate brief, and for ease of discussion neither will this court.

2. one to two weeks. Binger was shown pictures depicting the outer walls of the

warehouse pushed away and separated from the building’s foundation, leaving a

gap of several inches. The gap was filled with paper, cardboard, and other debris.

He testified that the walls were not in that condition in 2011. He also testified that

in 2011 no daylight was entering the warehouse through the walls. Binger,

however, could not identify where in the warehouse those pictures were taken, nor

could he identify when those pictures were taken. Binger was also shown a

picture of the interior, cinder block wall separating the two warehouses. The

blocks were cracked at the bottom where the wall met the floor. Again, Binger

could not identify what part of the wall the picture depicted. Finally, Binger

testified that he was not in the warehouse between 2011 and 2023, but when he

returned, “it was night and day” from what he remembered.

{¶ 7} Jonathan Abdoo testified that Fremont hired him in 2011 to install

some lighting in the east bay warehouse in anticipation of Trigo moving into the

space. He worked over the course of three days, during which time the warehouse

was empty. When he was shown the same pictures that were shown to Binger, he

testified that the walls did not look like that in 2011. He stated that while he was

working, he “did not see anything that I would say would be obvious damage. . . .

I would call the building just normal. Nothing drew my attention to it, so it would

be just average, normal.”

{¶ 8} Jonathan further testified that he was in the east bay warehouse

roughly three to six times a year between 2011 and 2022 to perform minor repairs.

3. During that time, Trigo was operating in the warehouse. Jonathan testified that he

observed stacks of things “multiple pallets high” on the exterior walls, and fewer

stacks of pallets on the interior concrete block wall. He noted that the area around

the loading dock was clear so that everyone, including Fremont, could use it.

{¶ 9} Greg Abdoo, Jonathan’s cousin and the owner of Fremont, testified

that his father, George Abdoo, owns the building at issue, which was built around

1988 to 1990. In 2000, Greg bought the family business, Fremont, and has been

operating it in the building since that time.

{¶ 10} Greg identified the pictures that had been shown to Binger and

Jonathan, stating that they were taken in April 2016. He testified that in 2011,

prior to Trigo moving in, there was no damage like that shown in the pictures.

Greg also identified pictures of the building that he took recently. In the new

pictures, the condition of the building remained unchanged from 2016, but the

pictures gave a better perspective on the amount and location of the damage to the

walls. Greg testified that in the sections where the greatest damage occurred, Trigo

had hung signs that stated, “Incoming Materials,” “Incoming,” “Certified

Material,” “Outgoing,” and “Reject Material.” Greg testified that in the sections

where Trigo had not hung signs, the walls were not damaged beyond what he

would describe as ordinary wear and tear. Greg believed that the walls were

damaged by the forklift operators pushing the pallets together and against the wall

during the loading and unloading of the product. He stated at times the pallets

would be stacked four high and two or three deep.

4. {¶ 11} When Greg discovered the damage in 2016, he contacted his father

and his attorney. A meeting was set up within a few days with Bobbi Ayres, a

Senior Site Lead for Trigo. George Abdoo testified that he confronted Ayers

about the damage and showed her the pictures. According to George, Ayres took

exception to the damage to the interior cement block wall but did not say that they

did not cause the damage to the exterior metal walls. Ayres said there were some

dents in the walls when Trigo moved in but then Trigo pushed the walls out.

Ayres assured George that Trigo would take care of its damages when it moved

out and “they would not stiff [him].” George accepted Ayres’s assurance because

he believed “she recognized that they caused the damage and that they were going

to take care of the damage.”

{¶ 12} Ryan Anstead, a project manager for Anstead Construction, testified

about the cost of repairing the building. From the pictures, he identified that the

foundation was damaged, the base channel was completely detached from the

foundation, and the metal wall was pushed out beyond the foundation. He also

could see cracks in the foundation. Further, the bond beam—a concrete block that

sits on top of the foundation and to which the metal walls are anchored—was

broken in places and pushed off the foundation. He testified that in some of the

pictures he could see light coming in from under the walls where they were pushed

out.

{¶ 13} Anstead described the damage as structural. To fix the walls he

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Bluebook (online)
2025 Ohio 5167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fremont-cutting-dies-inc-v-trigo-quality-solutions-us-inc-ohioctapp-2025.