DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY MATTHEW W. McFARLAND, P.J. { 1} This is an appeal from a judgment by the Ross County Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment in favor of Appellees, Leonard M. Roop, et al., and denying Appellant, Ross County Board of Commissioners, an injunction requiring Appellees to remove a non-residential structure located in the Indian Creek Floodway, the construction of which Appellant claims violates a previously recorded deed of open space. On appeal, Appellants...
OPINION VUKOVICH, J. { 1} Defendant-appellant Columbus Jones appeals after being convicted of murder, improper discharge of a firearm into a habitation, and ten counts of felonious assault based upon the shooting of multiple victims at a fraternity house. He argues that his convictions were contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence, contending that there was not credible evidence that he was a shooter. Appellant also urges that the improper discharge conviction should be merged into...
DECISION AND JUDGMENT JENSEN, J. { 1} Appellant, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife ("ODNR"), appeals the entry of summary judgment by the Huron County Court of Common Pleas in favor of appellee, Arlie Risner. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the decision of the trial court and remand for further proceedings. { 2} In November 2010, state wildlife officers began investigating a complaint that Arlie Risner had been hunting on private property without...
DECISION AND JUDGMENT OSOWIK, J. { 1} This is a consolidated appeal from two judgments issued by the Erie County Court of Common Pleas, following a jury trial. In case No. E-11-087 (trial court case No. 2011-CR-174), appellant, Denarea Swain, was found guilty of one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, in violation of R.C. 2923.32(A)(1), a first degree felony, one count of participating in a criminal gang with a firearm specification in violation of R.C. 2923.42(A), a second...
OPINION DEWINE, Judge. { 1} This is an appeal from a decision of the domestic relations court enforcing the terms of a divorce decree. The present dispute involves the proceeds from a post-decree class action settlement with the city of St. Bernard stemming from the contamination of land on which the parties' marital residence was situated. The former spouses are at odds over whether the decree mandates that the settlement award be divided equally between them or applied to the mortgage on...
OPINION DEWINE, Judge. { 1} Lamour Ruff appeals his convictions for aggravated robbery with a specification, carrying concealed weapons, and having a weapon while under a disability. He contends that the trial court should have suppressed a gun found on him during a search, that he was denied a fair trial due to prosecutorial misconduct, and that the trial court should have severed the robbery charges from the weapons charges. We conclude that the trial court properly overruled his motion...
DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY ABELE, J. { 1} This is an appeal from a Scioto County Common Pleas Court, Domestic Relations Division, judgment that dismissed two petitions for a Sexually Oriented Offender Protection Order (SOOPO) filed by Cherish Lewis, defendant below and appellant herein, against Stephen Rice and Regina Kelley, plaintiffs below and appellees herein. Appellant assigns the following error for review: "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DISMISSING THE SEXUALLY ORIENTED OFFENSE...
DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY HARSHA, J. { 1} Jeffery Dill and other taxpayers (collectively "the taxpayers") appeal the trial court's entry dismissing their action without prejudice. However, because the trial court's entry is not a final, appealable order we have no jurisdiction to consider the appeal and must dismiss it. I. FACTS { 2} This appeal arose from the construction of a multi-unit, residential structure in Athens, Ohio, by Integrated Services of Appalachian Ohio, Inc. (...
OPINION DELANEY, J. { 1} Defendants-Appellants Stanley Miller Construction Co., David S. Miller, and Steven J. Miller appeal the April 26, 2013 judgment entry of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY { 2} On June 23, 2011, Plaintiff-Appellee Huntington National Bank ("Lender") renewed a commercial line of credit with Defendant-Appellant Stanley Miller Construction Co. ("Borrowers") in the principal amount of $2,000,000.00 evidenced by a Promissory Note. The...
OPINION THOMAS R. WRIGHT, J. { 1} This is a consolidated appeal from the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas. Appellant Sylvia DeFranco filed suit against appellees Michael T. Judy and Robert E. Zulandt, Jr. alleging that appellees each committed legal malpractice and fraud in the course of representing DeFranco. Appellees both moved for summary judgment of the entire action which the trial court granted. DeFranco moved for relief from judgment, which the trial court denied. DeFranco timely...
OPINION THOMAS R. WRIGHT, J. { 1} These appeals are from two judgments in a divorce case before the Lake County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division. In the first judgment, the trial court denied appellant Joseph William Novak's motion for relief from a prior entry in which he was ordered to pay appellee Toni Gayle Novak $110,000 under the terms of a settlement agreement. In the second judgment, the trial court denied his motion to stay all pending proceedings to enforce...
OPINION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY { 1} Defendant-Appellant Brandon Moore asks this Court for delayed reconsideration of his resentencing appeal, State v. Moore (Moore III), 7th Dist. No. 08 MA 20, 2009-Ohio-1505 as he has no other avenue to avail himself of the retroactive constitutional argument that his sentence violates Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011 , 176 L.Ed. 2d 825 (2010). In Graham, the United States Supreme Court held that imposing a life sentence without the...
OPINION DIANE V. GRENDELL, J. { 1} Defendants-appellants, Jack Harned, and several other owners of land in the Meadows Plat subdivision, appeal from the Judgment Entry of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, entering partial summary judgment in favor of plaintiff-appellee, Grace Fellowship Church, Inc. The issues to be determined in this case are whether a "modification clause" in a subdivision's restrictive covenants gives a purchaser of property notice that future changes may...
OPINION COLLEEN MARY O'TOOLE, J. { 1} Appellant, Ohio One Contractors and Developers LLC, appeals from the February 7, 2013 judgment of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, overruling its objections and adopting a magistrate's decision. { 2} On December 1, 2007, appellant entered into a contract, comprised of two agreements, with appellee, American Steel City Industrial Leasing Inc., for the purchase of four brake presses. 1 The first agreement, titled "Purchase Order," was for $16,...
OPINION THOMAS R. WRIGHT, J. { 1} This appeal is from the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas. Appellant Big Blue Capital Partners, LLC ("Big Blue") sought to intervene in this foreclosure action after acquiring title to property that is subject to the current litigation. The trial court denied the motion to intervene finding that the doctrine of lis pendens barred intervention of Big Blue. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse and remand. { 2} On or about May 6, 2008, defendants...
OPINION DIANE V. GRENDELL, J. { 1} Defendant-appellant, Isabelle Santisi, appeals from the April 12, 2013 Judgment Entry of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, denying her Motion to Vacate the July 1, 2009 Amended Decree of Foreclosure. The issues before this court are whether plaintiff-appellee, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company's, alleged lack of standing rendered the Decree of Foreclosure void ab initio and whether the court had subject matter jurisdiction. For the following...
OPINION CYNTHIA WESTCOTT RICE, J. { 1} Appellant, Kvaerner North American Construction, appeals the judgment of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, granting the motions to dismiss Kvaerner's counterclaim filed by appellees, Donald A. Beaumont and Administrator, Bureau of Workers' Compensation ("BWC"). At issue is whether the statutory procedure for prosecuting an employer appeal in a workers' compensation action precluded Kvaerner from asserting its appeal via a counterclaim. For the...
OPINION COLLEEN MARY O'TOOLE, J. Appellant, Gary Ventling, appeals from the March 29, 2013 judgment of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, granting appellee's, Champion Township Board of Trustees, motion for summary judgment and dismissing appellant's complaint, and from the April 24, 2013 judgment, denying appellant's motion for reconsideration. In December 2004, appellant purchased a vacant lot from his father for $40,000, located on State Route 45 in Champion Township, Trumbull...
OPINION TIMOTHY P. CANNON, P.J. { 1} Appellant, Andrew J. Strawn, appeals the March 8, 2013 judgment of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment and issuing a decree of foreclosure in favor of appellee, M & T Bank. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the decision of the trial court. { 2} In December 2007, appellant took title to a property at 6018 Carter Street in Hubbard, Ohio ("the Property"). On December 18, 2007, appellant signed a promissory note in favor...
OPINION COLLEEN MARY O'TOOLE, J. { 1} Donald J. Mild, Jr., appeals from the February 14, 2013 judgment entry of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, granting summary judgment in favor of M&I Bank FSB in an action on a credit account. We reverse and remand. { 2} May 9, 2011, M&I Bank filed its complaint, alleging that Mr. Mild and Aries Resources, LLC, were in default of payment on a credit account opened in May 2008, in an amount exceeding $70,000, not including interest. June 17,...
