Hensel v. Kohl, Unpublished Decision (6-3-2003)
Hensel v. Kohl, Unpublished Decision (6-3-2003)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
{¶ 1} Plaintiffs-appellants Clyde and Susan Hensel appeal from the September 23, 2002, Judgment Entry of the Tuscarawas County Court of Common Pleas.{¶ 3} The parties subsequently agreed to waive an evidentiary hearing and/or trial in this matter and agreed to submit the matter to the trial court on joint stipulations of fact. Both parties also filed trial briefs. As memorialized in a Judgment Entry filed on September 23, 2002, the trial court found that appellants had failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that appellee had been unjustly enriched as a result of retaining the $11,276.70 deposit and that appellee had proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, his counterclaim against appellants in the amount of $15,937.16 "as Damages directly flowing from Plaintiffs' breach of the Real Estate Contract." The trial court, therefore, granted judgment in favor of appellee and against appellants on appellants' complaint and also granted judgment in favor of appellee and against appellants in the amount of $4,660.461 "relative to Defendant's counterclaim." The trial court, in its entry, found that "the Joint Stipulations of Fact filed 8/14/2002 should become the Final Findings of Fact of the Court."
{¶ 4} It is from the trial court's September 23, 2002, Judgment Entry that appellants now appeal, raising the following assignments of error:
{¶ 5} "I. The trial court erred, as a matter of law, by finding against the appellants on their complaint for unjust enrichment.
{¶ 6} "II. The trial court erred, as a matter of law, by finding that the contract between the parties provided for the forfeiture of the appellants' earnest money as liquidated damages, thus barring appellants' claim for unjust enrichment.
{¶ 7} "III. The trial court erred, as a matter of law, by finding for the appellee on his counterclaim and assessing damages in the amount of $15,937.00 including attorney fees for the defense of a previous lawsuit, previously dismissed under the provisions of Civil Rule (41)A."
{¶ 8} Appellants, in their three assignments of error, challenge the trial court's judgment in favor of appellee and against appellants on their complaint and the trial court's judgment in favor of appellee and against appellants on appellee's counterclaim.
{¶ 9} The trial court, in its September 23, 2002, Judgment Entry, stated, in relevant part, as follows:
{¶ 10} "The Court finds that the parties have filed Joint Stipulations of Fact on 8/14/2002, waived the conducting of an Evidentiary Hearing/Trial, requesting that the Court consider the Joint Stipulations of Fact in lieu of an Evidentiary Hearing/Trial and filed Briefs and Reply Briefs in support of their respective positions.
{¶ 11} "FINDS that the Joint Stipulations of Fact filed 8/14/2002 should become the Final Findings of Fact of the Court."
{¶ 12} On appeal, an appellant has the duty to supply a transcript or other acceptable statement of the facts, as provided in App.R. 9, since he "bears the burden of showing error by reference to matters in the record." Knapp v. Edwards Laboratories (1980),
{¶ 13} However, the record fails to reflect that the parties filed joint stipulations of fact in the case sub judice. The joint stipulations that were filed with the trial court on August 14, 2002, were filed in Case No. 2000 CV 09 0494, a case that appellants filed against appellee on September 21, 2000, and later voluntarily dismissed on or about July 17, 2001, without prejudice, rather than in the case sub judice.
{¶ 14} Without the parties' joint stipulations of fact, this Court must, pursuant to Knapp, supra., presume that the trial court applied the law correctly to facts presented and affirm.2
{¶ 15} Appellants' three assignments of error are, therefore, overruled.
{¶ 16} Accordingly, the judgment of the Tuscarawas County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed.
By Edwards, J., Hoffman, P.J. and Wise, J. concur.
In Re: Unjust Enrichment — Breach of Contract.
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