Gs Manufacturing v. Lagos Lagos, Unpublished Decision (3-30-2007)
Gs Manufacturing v. Lagos Lagos, Unpublished Decision (3-30-2007)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 3} Fourteen months after the filing of its complaint, G S sought permission from the trial court to amend that complaint. The trial court allowed an amended complaint to be filed in March, 2004. Lagos filed a motion for summary judgment, to which G S did not respond. The trial court granted summary judgment to Lagos, and G S filed a timely notice of appeal. At the request of G S, this Court stayed the appeal and remanded the case to the trial court for the limited purpose of ruling on G S's pending Civil Rule 60(B) motion for relief from judgment. The trial court denied G S's motion, and G S promptly amended its notice of appeal to include an appeal of the trial court's decision denying its motion for relief from judgment. This case is now ripe for review.
{¶ 5} Summary judgment pursuant to Civ.R. 56 should be granted only if no genuine issue of fact exists, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion, which is adverse to the nonmoving party. Harless v. WillisDay Warehousing Co. (1978),
{¶ 6} An appellate court reviews summary judgments de novo. Koos v.Cent. Ohio Cellular, Inc. (1994),
{¶ 7} In a case with a procedural posture very similar to the one presented here, we held that "a party seeking relief under Civ.R. 60(B) is required to establish the existence of a meritorious claim or defense. GTE Automatic Elec. v. ARC Industries (1976),
{¶ 8} The standard of review to be applied in appeals from the granting or denial of a Civ.R. 60(B) motion for relief from judgment is whether the trial court abused its discretion in reaching its decision.Associated Estates Corp. v. Fellows (1983),
{¶ 10} G S formally requested a stay of proceedings on January 27, 2003. Although G S claims that the trial court granted the stay, it points to nothing in the record to support this claim, nor can we find any evidence of the trial court granting the motion. *Page 5 To the contrary, on July 16, 2004, the trial court entered a case scheduling order and specifically advised the parties in an accompanying order that the filing of the amended complaint and answer rendered moot any previously pending motions. The trial court further stated that the parties could re-initiate any motions pursuant to the scheduling order. G S did not renew its request for a stay of proceedings.
{¶ 11} To the extent that G S insists that the trial court orally granted its request for a stay, we point out that when denying G S's Civ.R. 60(B) motion, the trial court stated that it had no record of granting any stay. More importantly, a trial court speaks only through its journal entries, and the court noted that G S had presented no entry confirming that a stay had been granted. Hairston v. Seidner (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 57,58, 2000-Ohio-271, citation omitted. The court expressly found that it had not granted summary judgment as a result of inadvertence or mistake as to the existence of a stay.
{¶ 12} Because the record does not show that the trial court ever issued a stay, but instead found the pending motion moot following the filing of an amended complaint and answer, the trial court did not err in ruling on Lagos's motion for summary judgment, nor did the court abuse its discretion in denying G S's Civ.R. 60(B) motion for relief from judgment. Accordingly, G S's first assignment of error is without merit and is overruled.
{¶ 14} "Under R.C. §
{¶ 15} G S filed its original complaint on April 3, 2002 alleging attorney malpractice and breach of contract against Lagos, including requests for damages for emotional distress and punitive damages. All claims arose from events that occurred during the three and one-half years that Lagos served as G S's legal counsel. Fourteen months later G S sought leave of the trial court to amend its complaint, which the trial court granted, and an amended complaint was filed on March 12, 2004. While the amended complaint may have offered additional actions by Lagos in support of G S's claims, those acts occurred during the attorney-client relationship. No new causes of action were alleged to have arisen after the termination of that relationship in April, 2001. Thus, any claims for attorney malpractice needed to be filed by April, 2002. G S offered no justification for extending that one year deadline. To the contrary, it is apparent that G S ended its relationship with Lagos in April, 2001 precisely because G S was aware that Lagos had not completed various services.
{¶ 16} Because G S did not attempt to assert additional claims until more than two years after the attorney-client relationship ended, and it offered no justification for the *Page 7 delay, those claims are barred by the statute of limitations. Therefore, summary judgment was properly granted, and Civ.R. 60(B) relief was properly denied. G S's third assignment of error is overruled.
{¶ 18} G S failed to respond to the motion for summary judgment. On appeal, rather than point to specific operative facts to support its assertion that it had valid claims, G S focuses on its frustration regarding discovery issues below. G S did not seek relief per Civ.R. 56(F) to remedy what problems, if any, it was experiencing in responding to the motion for summary judgment.
{¶ 19} As discussed more thoroughly in response to G S's third assignment of error, any claims that G S raised in its amended complaint were barred by the statute of limitations because they arose during the course of and out of the attorney-client relationship that ended in April, 2001, and without justification for delay, were not brought until more than two years later.
{¶ 20} This assignment demonstrates no error by the trial court in either ruling on Lagos's motion for summary judgment or in denying G S's Civ.R. 60(B) motion for relief from judgment. Dysert, supra. G S's second assignment of error fails. *Page 8
{¶ 22} In order to prove a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, a plaintiff must show that the defendant's extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally and recklessly caused serious emotional distress. Yeager v. Local Union 20, Teamsters, Chauffeurs,Warehousemen Helpers of America (1983),
{¶ 23} In its motion for summary judgment, Lagos attacked not only G S's malpractice and breach of contract claims, but Lagos also specifically addressed G S's emotional distress and punitive damages claims. Because G S failed to respond to the motion for summary judgment, it failed to address the factual basis of its any of its claims, including those for emotional distress and punitive damages. Moreover, on appeal G S still does not address any of the underlying facts of Lagos's specific behavior that formed the basis of those claims. Instead, G S again focuses on the discovery difficulties that it claims to have experienced while this case was pending in the court below. Thus, G S failed to meet its burden of showing a genuine issue of material fact for trial, and summary judgment was appropriate. Similarly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying *Page 9 G S's motion for relief from judgment. Dysert, supra.
{¶ 24} G S's fourth assignment of error is without merit and is overruled.
*Page 1GRADY, J. and DONOVAN, J., concur.
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