Calabrese Law Firm v. Christie

Citations

• 236 N.E.3d 388
• 2024 Ohio 579

Syllabus

Res judicata individual capacity limited liability company settlement and release manifest weight of the evidence hearsay App.R. 16(D) damages setoff to jury award breach of contract attorney fees contingency fee agreement lodestar prejudgment interest. - Jury verdict finding that defendant breached a sublease with plaintiff affirmed and trial court's award of attorney fees in favor of plaintiff affirmed. Plaintiff's earlier settlement with other signatories on the sublease was not res judicata to plaintiff's claims against defendant, who signed the sublease in his individual capacity plaintiff could bring its breach-of-contract claim as a limited liability company plaintiff's settlement and release of defendant in an unrelated lawsuit did not bar plaintiff's claims against defendant in this case the jury's verdict finding that defendant breached the sublease was not against the manifest weight of the evidence defendant did not support his argument that two witnesses gave hearsay testimony by reference to the record as required by App.R. 16(D) plaintiff presented sufficient evidence of damages to support the jury's damages award plaintiff was entitled to attorney fees as the prevailing party because the sublease expressly provided that plaintiff could recover its attorney fees upon defendant's breach of the sublease trial court did not abuse its discretion in not awarding the total amount of attorney fees requested by plaintiff because the court could properly consider that counsel had a contingency fee agreement with plaintiff trial court erred in denying plaintiff's motion for prejudgment interest because a party granted judgment on a contract claim is entitled to prejudgment interest as a matter of law.