Dew v. Cavanaugh, Unpublished Decision (12-31-2002)
Dew v. Cavanaugh, Unpublished Decision (12-31-2002)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant Cathleen Dew, Executor of the Estate of Betty J. Cavanaugh, Deceased appeals from the January 30, 2002, Decision and Entry of the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas.{¶ 3} Subsequently, a hearing before a Referee was held on December 9, 1992. Pursuant to a Referee's Report filed on January 20, 1993, the Referee made the following findings of fact:
{¶ 4} "3) Pursuant to judgment entered in this matter on April 21, 1992, plaintiff was awarded the following items of property to which she has been prevented from receiving by defendant:
{¶ 5} "Savings of American Accounts 77,620.75
{¶ 6} "Prudential IRA Account 7,083.80
{¶ 7} "Paine Webber Account 1,420.80
{¶ 8} "Western Southern Policy 521.00
{¶ 9} "Bank One (Central Trust) 42.05
{¶ 10} "Crooksville Bank Proceeds 12,352.66
{¶ 11} "American Investors 33,947.77
{¶ 12} Total $132,988.83"
{¶ 13} Based on the above findings, the Referee recommended that Betty Cavanaugh be awarded judgment against appellee in the amount of $132,988.83 plus interest at the statutory interest rate from April 21, 1992. A Judgment Entry approving and adopting the Referee's Report and a "Certificate of Judgment for Lien Upon Land and Tenements" were filed the same day. The judgment lien was refiled on January 5, 1998.
{¶ 14} Thereafter, appellee, On March 19, 2001, filed a motion with the trial court. Appellee, in his motion, argued that since January 20, 1993, Betty Cavanaugh had received all of the assets which she was awarded and that, therefore, the judgment lien should be released since the same had been satisfied. Appellee further argued in his motion as follows:
{¶ 15} "At the time of the divorce, Defendant owned and controlled lock box 1078 at Central Trust. It is believed that a successor bank now has this lock box. Defendant was awarded the lock box as part of the divorce settlement, but Plaintiff was awarded the contents of the lock box having an aggregate value of $48,972.25.
{¶ 16} "A court hold was placed on lock box 1078 that has kept Defendant from access to that box for over ten years. Defendant claims that there are items of personal property that belong to him and were awarded to him as part of the divorce that were located within that lock box. Defendant requests that this court release any hold orders on the lock box and that Plaintiff be required to turn over any keys for the lock box to Defendant so that he can review the contents and determine if his property is still intact. If Defendant's property has been removed, then Defendant requests that Plaintiff be ordered to return said property to Defendant or to reimburse Defendant for the reasonable fair market value of said property."
{¶ 17} A hearing before the trial court was held on April 30, 2001. As memorialized in a Decision and Entry filed on January 30, 2002, the trial court ordered that the amount of the judgment lien should be reduced to $29,988.00 due to payments received by Betty Cavanaugh from appellee in the past. The trial court also ordered that appellant, who is the Executor of Betty Cavanaugh's Estate2, should receive an IRA, various securities and a coin collection from the lock box. Finally, the trial court, in its order, reduced the amount of interest owed to appellant from a figure over $150,000.00 to $18,307.96. The trial court, in so holding, specifically stated as follows:
{¶ 18} "The Court finds that interest if calculated annually from April 1993 on the unpaid lien at 10% per annum inspite [sic] the credits would bring the total owed plaintiff's estate from defendant to a figure over $150,000.00. However, the Court determines that much of the assets could have been transferred at any time and would have reduced the interest significantly. This factor and the coin collection, value unknown, shall cause the total sum of $48,295.96. The principle after adjustment is $29,988.00. The Court only deems it fair to calculate interest at 10% per annum for the past five (5) years. This arbitrary decision is based on the fact that my predecessors could have and should have, in my opinion, transferred major assets to Betty Cavanaugh in years past as opposed to letting them just sit in a box or in an account. Interest at 10% per annum for five (5) years brings the total defendant owes the estate of Betty Cavanaugh to $48,295.96."
{¶ 19} It is from the trial court's January 30, 2002, Decision and Entry that appellant now appeals, raising the following assignments of error:
{¶ 20} "1. The decision of the trial court violated the due process rights of the defendant by addressing matters beyond the scope of the motion pending before the court.
{¶ 21} "2. The decision of the trial court reducing the judgment and interest owed to the plaintiff-appellant was unsupported by, and contrary to, the weight of the evidence.
{¶ 22} "3. The trial court erred by relitigating and modifying previous orders of the court in violation of the principle of res judicata.
{¶ 23} "4. The decision of the trial court to assign values of $2500.00 to a coin collection and $19,000.00 to various bonds was unsupported by any evidence.
{¶ 24} "5. The trial court erred by reducing interest owed to the plaintiff-appellant in violation of established case law and the requirements of the Ohio revised code applicable to statutory interest.
{¶ 25} "6. The trial court abused its discretion by reducing the judgment and interest owed to the plaintiff-appellant.
{¶ 26} "7. Assuming arguendo that the trial court was authorized to reduce the amount of interest owed to the plaintiff-appellant, the manner in which the trial court calculated the reduction was an abuse of discretion and was unsupported by the evidence."
{¶ 27} For purposes of judicial economy, we shall address appellant's assignments of error out of sequence.
{¶ 29} Appellant is correct that appellee, in his March 19, 2001, motion, did not request a reduction of interest, but rather only requested the release of the lien and the opening of the lock box. However, we do not believe that the trial court, by considering the amount of interest due and payable to appellant from appellee, went beyond the scope of appellee's motion. In order to determine if the judgment against appellee had been paid in full and if the lien, therefore should be released, the trial court, as noted by appellant, appropriately considered evidence of payments made by appellee. Assuming, arguendo, that appellee had made payments to appellant since the judgment was entered, then the amount of the judgment would be affected as would the amount of interest due and owing. For such reason, we find that the trial court did not violate appellant's due process rights by considering the amount of interest due and owing.
{¶ 30} Appellant's first assignment of error is, therefore, overruled.
{¶ 32} As is stated above, a hearing before the trial court was held on April 30, 2001, on appellee's motion requesting the opening of the lock box and the release of the judgment lien. When an appellant claims that the trial court's judgment was against the weight of the evidence or unsupported by the evidence, the appellant must include in the record all portions of the proceedings during which such evidence may have been presented. See Hartt v. Munobe (1993),
{¶ 33} Appellant's second assignment of error is, therefore, overruled.
{¶ 35} Since there is no transcript of the April 30, 2001, hearing, for the reasons set forth above in our discussion of appellant's second assignment of error, appellant's fourth assignment of error is overruled.
{¶ 37} "The doctrine of res judicata involves both claim preclusion (historically called estoppel by judgment in Ohio) and issue preclusion (traditionally known as collateral estoppel)." Grava v. ParkmanTownship,
{¶ 38} We concur with appellant that the trial court violated the doctrine of res judicata in reducing the amount of interest owed. In the case sub judice, Betty Cavanaugh originally was awarded interest on the amount of $132,998.83 at the statutory rate from April 21, 1992. Clearly, it was intended that interest would be paid by appellee until the judgment was paid in full. However, subsequently, the trial court, in its January 30, 2002, Decision and Judgment Entry, limited the amount of interest to 10% per annum for the past five years. By doing so, the trial court improperly modified its previous judgment with respect to interest.
{¶ 39} Appellant further argues that the trial court improperly and arbitrarily reduced the amount of interest. It was undisputed that a lien existed against appellee in the amount of $132,988.83. The trial court, in its January 30, 2002, Decision and Entry, stated, in relevant part, as follows in explaining why it was reducing the amount of statutory interest owed to appellant from appellee on such amount:
{¶ 40} ". . . The Court only deems it fair to calculate interest at 10% per annum for the past five (5) years. This arbitrary decision is based on the fact that my predecessors could have and should have, in my opinion, transferred major assets to Betty Cavanaugh in years past as opposed to letting them just sit in a box or in an account. Interest at 10% per annum for five (5) years brings the total defendant owes the estate of Betty Cavanaugh to $48,295.96."
{¶ 41} R.C.
{¶ 42} "(A) In cases other than those provided for in sections
{¶ 43} "(B) Except as provided in divisions (C) and (D) of this section, interest on a judgment, decree, or order for the payment of money rendered in a civil action based on tortious conduct, including, but not limited to a civil action based on tortious conduct that has been settled by agreement of the parties, shall be computed from the date the judgment, decree, or order is rendered to the date on which the money is paid." R.C.
{¶ 44} While payment of the original judgment is pertinent to the calculation of postjudgment interest, it does not however totally eliminate an award of postjudgment interest. See Moore v. Jock (1993),
{¶ 45} In the case sub judice, it is clear that the trial court did not apply any payments that appellee made to appellant first to the payment of interest. Rather, the trial court, by its own admission arbitrarily, decided to "calculate interest" at 10% per annum for the past five (5) years." Since, therefore, the trial court's reduction of interest in this matter violated Ohio case and statutory law, violated the doctrine of res judicata, and by the trial court's own admission was "arbitrary", appellant's third, fifth and sixth assignments of error are sustained.
{¶ 47} Based on our disposition of appellant's fifth and sixth assignments of error, appellant's seventh assignment of error is moot.
{¶ 48} Accordingly, based on the foregoing, the judgment of the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas is reversed and this matter is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
By Edwards, J., Gwin, P.J. and Wise, J. concur.
In Re: DR — Interest owed on judgment.
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