Avalon Test Equip. Leasing, Inc. v. Emerald Design Constr., L.L.C.

Citations

• 2023 Ohio 1375

Syllabus

Accelerated appeal breach of contract settlement agreement consent judgment motion to dismiss Civ.R. 12(B)(6) default judgment Civ.R. 55 Civ.R. 12(A). In this accelerated appeal, we affirmed the denial of the defendant's Civ.R. 12(B)(6) motion to dismiss and reversed the default judgment that had been rendered in favor of the plaintiff. A settlement agreement is a binding contract, which may be enforced through a separate action for breach of contract notwithstanding that a trial court dismissed the underlying litigation with prejudice based on the settlement without retaining jurisdiction to enforce the agreement. It was an abuse of discretion for the trial court to grant a default judgment where it expressly gave the defendant a deadline to appear in the matter to avoid default and the defendant filed its Civ.R. 12(B)(6) motion before that deadline. Pursuant to Civ.R. 12(A)(2), the defendant should have been allowed 14 days to file its answer after the trial court denied the motion to dismiss.