State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor's Office

2022 Ohio 166
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 24, 2022
Docket2020-A-0052
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2022 Ohio 166 (State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor's Office) 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
State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor's Office, 2022 Ohio 166 (Ohio Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

[Cite as State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor's Office, 2022-Ohio-166.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO ELEVENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT ASHTABULA COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO ex rel. CASE NO. 2020-A-0052 MARTIN PEASPANEN,

Relator, Original Action for Writ of Mandamus

-v-

ASHTABULA COUNTY AUDITOR'S OFFICE, et al.,

Respondents.

PER CURIAM OPINION

Decided: January 24, 2022 Judgment: Petition denied

Bradley Hull, IV, Bradley Hull, IV Esq., LLC, 1392 SOM Center Road, Mayfield Heights, OH 44124 (For Relator).

Timothy T. Reid and Kenneth E. Smith, Mansour Gavin, LPA, North Point Tower, 1001 Lakeside Avenue, Suite 1400, Cleveland, Ohio 44114 (For Respondents Ashtabula County Auditor’s Office, Ashtabula County Fiscal Office, Ashtabula County Recorder’s Office, and Ashtabula County Commissioners).

Gary D. Zeid, Sternberg & Zeid Co., L.P.A., 7547 Mentor Avenue, Suite 301, Mentor, Ohio 44060-5466 (For Respondents Raymond & Darlene Buck).

Judith Peaspanen, pro se, 378 Walnut Street, Conneaut, OH 44030 (Respondent).

PER CURIAM.

{¶1} This action in mandamus is presently before us for consideration of the

motion for summary judgment of respondents, the Ashtabula County Auditor’s Office/Ashtabula County Fiscal Office,1 the Ashtabula County Recorder’s Office, and the

Ashtabula County Commissioners (collectively, “respondents”). In asserting judgment

should be granted in their favor, respondents contend that relator, Martin Peaspanen (“Mr.

Peaspanen”), filed a nearly identical mandamus action in the Supreme Court of Ohio.

See State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor’s Office, 155 Ohio St.3d 1417,

2019-Ohio-1315, 120 N.E.3d 864, reconsideration denied, 156 Ohio St.3d 1408, 2019-

Ohio-2261, 123 N.E.3d 1032. The Supreme Court issued a merit decision without an

opinion, granted respondents’ motion to dismiss, and dismissed Mr. Peaspanen’s

complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Thus, respondents

argue, the doctrine of res judicata bars Mr. Peaspanen’s claims.

{¶2} Mr. Peaspanen filed this action in mandamus to require respondents to

preapprove deeds concerning a specific property and then subsequently transfer all lots

and tracts identified in those deeds. Although the allegations and relief sought concern

only the Ashtabula County respondents, Mr. Peaspanen’s mother, Judith Peaspanen

(“Judith Peaspanen”), and his aunt and uncle, Darlene and Raymond Buck (collectively,

the “Bucks”), are also named respondents in this action.

{¶3} A review of Mr. Peaspanen’s petition – once one clears the muddied waters

of the alleged “new underlying facts” – reveals respondents are correct in their assertion

that the doctrine of res judicata bars the refiling of these claims. The mere fact that Mr.

Peaspanen attempted new transfers after the Supreme Court dismissed his petition,

1. Respondents argue that Ashtabula County does not have a “Fiscal Office,” and therefore any claims against this respondent must be dismissed. Judith Peaspanen, in her “motion in opposition to the motion to dismiss and alternative motion for summary judgment,” contends that “the claims against the Ashtabula County Auditor’s Office or the employees or Auditor within the office should not be dismissed * * * as the Ashtabula County Fiscal Office is a properly named Defendant.” It appears that the Ashtabula “Fiscal Office” is the Ashtabula County Auditor’s Office, and thus those respondents are one and the same. 2

Case No. 2020-A-0052 again attempting to use improper legal descriptions, does not afford him the opportunity

to relitigate issues that have already been decided, i.e., that he must either use the

recorded legal description or have the lots surveyed. Accordingly, we grant respondents’

motion for summary judgment and deny relator’s petition.

Substantive and Procedural History

{¶4} This case centers on the property located at 1046 Lake Road, Conneaut,

Ohio, known as the “Willow Beach Park Plat,” and consists of various tracts that are

comprised of 12 lots: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 69, 70, 71, 72, and 73.

{¶5} The original owners, Elmer and Frances Peaspanen, the grandparents of

Mr. Peaspanen, purchased eleven of the lots in 1961 and the twelfth lot in 1964. In 1994,

prior to her passing in 2004, Frances, the surviving spouse, transferred her interest to her

three children: Thomas Peaspanen (spouse Kathleen), John Peaspanen (spouse Judith),

and Darlene Buck (spouse Raymond) in three equal shares.

Transfers of Interest

{¶6} As evidenced by the deeds in the record, the interests in the property were

transferred between the three children and/or their spouses since they received their

shares in the property, although not all of the transfers are in the record or pertinent to

this petition.

{¶7} In 2010, Darlene Buck filed several general warranty deeds, transferring her

interests to herself and Raymond. Attached to the deeds was a new surveyor’s legal

description, which was accepted by the Ashtabula County Engineer on June 22, 2010. It

is this updated legal description that Mr. Peaspanen asserts is incorrect and that is the

current legal description on file with the auditor’s office.

Case No. 2020-A-0052 {¶8} By 2016, the Bucks held a two-thirds interest in the property, and Judith

Peaspanen held a one-third interest (spouse John Peaspanen is deceased).

Medina County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 16CIV0494

{¶9} In 2016, Mr. Peaspanen filed a complaint in the Medina County Court of

Common Pleas, case no. 16CIV0494 (“Medina court case”), against Judith Peaspanen,

the Bucks, and Thomas and Kathleen Peaspanen, alleging adverse possession and

demanding judgment for an order to quiet title to the property and to declare all rights,

interests, and/or other rights in the property terminated.2

{¶10} A review of the docket in that case reveals the parties reached a settlement

agreement whereby the Bucks agreed to sell their interest to Mr. Peaspanen. The court

issued a judgment entry, finding that the parties’ claims were settled and resolved. The

parties agreed they would execute and comply with the purchase agreement and that the

court would retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the settlement agreement.

{¶11} After the parties entered into the purchase agreement for the property, the

Bucks and Judith Peaspanen attempted to transfer their interests in the property via quit-

claim deeds to Mr. Peaspanen. The Bucks also executed three “affidavits of fact related

to title,” in which they averred that “warranty deeds were previously prepared for parcels

* * *” (seemingly in reference to the 2010 warranty deeds with the updated legal

description that is the current recorded legal description on file), and that “the correct legal

descriptions * * * to the parcel numbers * * * are identified on Exhibit A and B” (Exhibits A

and B were the prior recorded 1961 and 1964 descriptions). They further averred that

2. We may take judicial notice of a document filed in another court, not for the truth of the matters asserted in the other litigation, but rather to establish the fact of such litigation and related filings. Washington v. Eppinger, 11th Dist. Trumbull No. 2020-T-0024, 2020-Ohio-3851, ¶ 45; State ex rel. Coles v. Granville, 116 Ohio St.3d 231, 2007-Ohio-6057, 877 N.E.2d 968, ¶ 20. 4

Case No.

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Bluebook (online)
2022 Ohio 166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-peaspanen-v-ashtabula-cty-auditors-office-ohioctapp-2022.