Jones v. Sharefax Credit Union, Inc.

2022 Ohio 176
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 2022
DocketC-210260
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2022 Ohio 176 (Jones v. Sharefax Credit Union, 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
Jones v. Sharefax Credit Union, Inc., 2022 Ohio 176 (Ohio Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

[Cite as Jones v. Sharefax Credit Union, Inc., 2022-Ohio-176.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO

EILEEN JONES, as substituted : APPEAL NO. C-210260 Plaintiff-Appellant, for BRADLEY TRIAL NO. A-1802940 ENSINGER,

and : O P I N I O N. LYNN M. MCGOWAN-RUSSELL, :

Plaintiff, :

vs. :

SHAREFAX CREDIT UNION, INC., :

Defendant-Appellee. :

Civil Appeal From: Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas

Judgment Appealed From Is: Reversed and Cause Remanded

Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: January 26, 2022

Frederick & Berler, L.L.C., Ronald I. Frederick, Michael L. Berler and Stephen A. Bailey, for Plaintiff-Appellant,

Bricker & Eckler, L.L.P., and Daniel C. Gibson, for Defendant-Appellee. OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

CROUSE, Presiding Judge.

{¶1} Plaintiff-appellant Eileen Jones, as substituted for Bradley Ensinger,1

has appealed from the trial court’s judgment denying class-action certification. Jones

argues: (1) the trial court erred in failing to perform a rigorous analysis of the Civ.R.

23 class-action-certification requirements; (2) the trial court abused its discretion to

the extent it denied class certification on the basis of defendant-appellee Sharefax

Credit Union, Inc.’s, (“Sharefax”) mootness argument; and (3) assuming arguendo

that the trial court did conduct a rigorous analysis of the Civ.R. 23 requirements, its

decision denying class certification was an abuse of discretion.

Factual Background

{¶2} Plaintiffs Bradley Ensinger and Lynn M. McGowan-Russell2 purchased

vehicles in 2011 and 2015, respectively, from local automotive dealerships. They

financed their purchases through separate retail installment sales contracts, which

were assigned to Sharefax. Plaintiffs defaulted on their loans and Sharefax

repossessed both vehicles in December 2017. After repossession, Sharefax sent

plaintiffs notices of sale and notices of deficiency.

{¶3} On June 13, 2018, plaintiffs filed a class-action suit, contending, inter

alia, that Sharefax engaged in commercially unreasonable sales and sent them

deficient notices of sale and deficiency in violation of the Retail Installment Sales Act

(“RISA”) and the Ohio Uniform Commercial Code (OUCC”).

1 Per Civ.R. 25, Eileen Jones was substituted for plaintiff Bradley Ensinger due to Ensinger’s death during the pendency of the case. 2 McGowan-Russell did not appeal the trial court’s judgment.

2 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

{¶4} Plaintiffs alleged that Sharefax’s notices of sale violated RISA because

the notices did not state the amount, by itemization, required to cure the default. See

R.C. 1317.12. They claimed the notices of sale also violated the OUCC because the

notices did not advise them they could attend the sale and bring bidders. See R.C.

1309.614. Plaintiffs alleged that the notices of deficiency violated the OUCC because

the notices failed to explain the calculation of the deficiency in the specific order

required by R.C. 1309.616(C). Finally, plaintiffs alleged that the sale of the vehicles

was commercially unreasonable because Sharefax failed to notify them of their right

to attend the sale and bring bidders, and then sold the vehicles for substantially less

than the minimum bid price stated in the notices of sale. See R.C. 1309.610.

{¶5} Plaintiffs claimed that Sharefax had issued the same defective “form”

notices and engaged in commercially unreasonable sales in other repossession cases

involving retail installment sales contracts. Therefore, they requested class-action

certification of three classes of debtors similarly situated: the RISA class, the notice-

of-sale class, and the notice-of-deficiency class.

{¶6} Plaintiffs also requested the following forms of relief: declaratory

judgment, actual damages, an injunction prohibiting Sharefax from collecting any

deficiency and from continuing its improper practices, statutory damages,

restitution/disgorgement of fees, costs and deficiency balances unlawfully collected,

an order requiring removal of adverse credit information reported by Sharefax to

outside credit reporting agencies, interest, and attorney fees.

{¶7} Several of the claims for relief were settled prior to the class-

certification hearing. Through discovery, it became apparent plaintiffs had not paid

any repossession fees or deficiency balances. On October 29, 2019, Sharefax

3 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

submitted an “Automated Universal Data” form to the credit reporting agencies

requesting that all negative reporting regarding plaintiffs’ credit be removed. On

November 1, 2019, Sharefax filed notices waiving its right to collect any deficiencies

owed by plaintiffs. Sharefax also sent two checks to plaintiffs on October 29, 2019—

one to Ensinger for $5,500 and one to McGowan-Russell for $9,500—but plaintiffs

returned the checks without cashing them. Sharefax filed for summary judgment on

the ground of mootness, arguing they had provided complete relief to plaintiffs. The

motion was denied by a judge who retired from the bench shortly thereafter.

{¶8} On November 11, 2019, plaintiffs filed their motion for class

certification. The newly-elected judge held a hearing and denied certification without

explanation by a written entry filed March 23, 2021.

Mootness

{¶9} Before we address Jones’s assignments of error, we must address the

mootness issue raised by Sharefax in its motion for summary judgment, in

opposition to class-action certification, and on appeal. It argues the case is moot

because it has provided complete relief to plaintiffs.

{¶10} Mootness concerns subject-matter jurisdiction and may be raised by

an appellee on appeal without the necessity of a cross-appeal. See WBCMT 2007-C33

Office 7870, LLC v. Breakwater Equity Partners, LLC, 2019-Ohio-3935, 133 N.E.3d

607, ¶ 39 (1st Dist.), citing Paulus v. Beck Energy Corp., 2017-Ohio-5716, 94 N.E.3d

73, ¶ 29 (7th Dist.) (matters of subject-matter jurisdiction may be raised for the first

time on appeal); JG City LLC v. State Bd. of Pharmacy, 10th Dist. Franklin No.

21AP-38, 2021-Ohio-4624 (“the filing of a cross-appeal is not a prerequisite to

4 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

challenging a court’s subject-matter jurisdiction, as subject-matter jurisdiction

cannot be waived and may be raised at any time”).

{¶11} “The subject-matter jurisdiction of common pleas courts is limited to

justiciable matters.” City of Cincinnati v. Fourth Natl. Realty, LLC, 1st Dist.

Hamilton Nos. C-180156 and C-180174, 2019-Ohio-1868, ¶ 25. “A justiciable matter

indicates the existence of an actual controversy, a genuine dispute between adverse

parties.” Id. Where the claims of the named plaintiffs are moot, the certification

question becomes moot as well. Castillo v. Nationwide Fin. Servs., 10th Dist.

Franklin No. 02AP-1393, 2003-Ohio-4766, ¶ 26.

{¶12} Jones argues that if the trial court considered the mootness question at

the class-certification stage, that was improper because the question was already

decided by the previous trial judge when he denied Sharefax’s motion for summary

judgment. However, we note that the trial court did not contradict the previous

judge’s order denying summary judgment because the court specifically did not hold

that the case was moot.

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