131 Miles, L.L.C. v. 3M&B, L.L.C.

Citations

• 2021 Ohio 3198

Syllabus

Civ.R. 11 R.C. 2323.51 attorney fees sanctions frivolous conduct unjust enrichment abuse of discretion de novo. In order to prove that a claim is not warranted under existing law, the appellant must prove that no reasonable lawyer would have brought the claim. Here, appellant argues that appellees had no valid claim against it because they never contracted for any construction work together. Rather, appellees contracted with a franchisee of appellant. While it is true that their status solely as franchisor does not make them liable under the contracts of its franchisees, they could become liable if the relationship extends to that of a principal-agent. Therefore, appellees could argue in good faith, under existing law that appellant could become liable for the contact appellees had with appellant's franchisee if a principal-agent relationship exists. Under Civ.R. 11, we find nothing in the record to suggest that appellees' attorney did not read the third-party complaint against appellant nor do we find any evidence that it was filed for purposes of delay. Further, as discussed, there is a good faith argument under existing law for the arguments made in the third-party complaint, so it cannot be said that the attorney did not harbor good grounds to support it to the best of his knowledge.