Hillier v. Fifth Third Bank

Citations

• 154 N.E.3d 1266
• 2020 Ohio 3679

Syllabus

The trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of appellee, a bank, regarding the disposition of savings and checking accounts owned by a decedent. Under the unambiguous terms of the contract between the decedent and the bank, the decedent's accounts were not payable on death (\POD\) accounts and should have been paid instead to the decedent's estate for distribution under the will. The trial court also erred in granting summary judgment to the alleged POD beneficiary, who was not entitled to the amounts in the decedent's accounts and was unjustly enriched by the payments. The trial court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of the bank on bad faith, negligence, and estoppel claims, nor did the court err in granting summary judgment to the alleged POD beneficiary on a conversion claim. Judgment affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.