COD Properties Ohio, L.L.C. v. Black Tie Title, L.L.C.

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 2519

Syllabus

Breach of fiduciary duty; conversion; civil theft; treble damages; attorney fees; final appealable order; summary judgment; trial; jury verdict; punitive damages; judgment notwithstanding the verdict (\JNOV\); compensatory damages; court costs; Civ.R. 60(A); foreclosure; sheriff's sale; real property; civil theft of real property; sufficiency of the evidence; R.C. 2315.21; R.C. 2307.61; R.C. 2913.02. The trial court properly denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment in part with respect to the plaintiff's claims for civil theft, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty. These claims arose from an agreement in which the defendants undertook to act on the plaintiff's behalf at a sheriff's sale in a foreclosure action, with the intent to acquire real property. The defendants' subsequent actions resulted in the property deed being improperly titled in one of the defendants' names. The denial of summary judgment on these claims was appropriate because it was not based on a pure question of law, but rather on the existence of genuine issues of material fact regarding whether the defendants' conduct constituted civil theft, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty. The trial court also did not err in denying the defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) on the plaintiff's claims for civil theft and breach of fiduciary duty. Real property can be the subject of a civil-theft claim, and the evidence presented at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, was sufficient to support the jury's finding of breach of fiduciary duty. Furthermore, the trial court correctly denied the defendants' motion for JNOV as to the jury's award of punitive damages. Punitive damages are permissible as part of the compensatory-damage award when a breach of fiduciary duty has been established. However, the trial court erred in denying the defendants' motion for JNOV on the plaintiff's conversion claim, because real property cannot, as a matter of