WBCMT 2007-C33 Office 7870, L.L.C. v. Breakwater Equity Partners, L.L.C.

Citations

• 2019 Ohio 3935

Syllabus

CIV.R. 15 – JURISDICTION – FINAL ORDER —WAIVER : In a foreclosure case, where the previous trial judge had correctly allowed plaintiff to amend its complaint pursuant to Civ.R. 15, which is to be liberally construed, to add new claims and parties, including defendants, the subsequent trial judge erred in dismissing the amended complaint on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction to allow the amendment because final judgment had been entered the court's prior orders did not constitute final judgments. [But see DISSENT: The trial court correctly determined that it did not have jurisdiction over the amended complaint, which replaced all of the parties and all of the claims, because final judgment had been entered in the case prior to the amendment, and the court had the inherent authority to vacate its own void entries: Civ.R. 15 does not permit the amendment of a complaint after final judgment has been entered.] The partial agreed judgment that predated the amended complaint was not a final judgment that divested the trial court of jurisdiction over the case where claims related to costs and attorney fees remained outstanding the order confirming the sale was not a final order, and it did not convert the partial agreed judgment into a final order, where it failed to address the unresolved claims. [But see DISSENT: Both the partial agreed judgment and confirmation order were final orders that divested the trial court of jurisdiction to grant plaintiff's motion to amend its complaint: all claims and issues between the parties had been settled.] Where subject-matter jurisdiction was not implicated, defendants waived any argument that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the case by failing to raise it until years after the trial court had allowed the amended complaint. [But see DISSENT: Plaintiff never asserted in the trial court that defendants had waived the jurisdictional issue therefore, plaintiff has waived any argument that defendants waived the jurisdict