Marchbanks v. Ice House Ventures, L.L.C.

Citations

• 2024 Ohio 417

Syllabus

The trial court had subject matter jurisdiction to award contract damages against Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for its breach of the parties' settlement agreement entered into to resolve an appropriation matter instead of going to trial. Furthermore, the parties' agreement is clear that the issue of damages was left to the trial court should the issue arise. Therefore, the trial court did not err in awarding expectation damages to appellee. Nor did the trial court err in finding that ODOT breached the parties' agreement as the record clearly shows ODOT was unable to convey the Parking Mitigation Property as promised in the agreement and in fact stipulated to same. Finally, the trial court did not err in in finding ODOT liable for IHV's attorney fees. Ohio law is clear that where a party breaches a settlement agreement entered into to resolve litigation and the breach causes the other party to incur attorney fees in continuing the litigation, such fees are properly awarded by a court as compensatory damages. Judgment affirmed.