Bank of Am., N.A. v. Singh ( 2016 )

[Cite as Bank of Am., N.A. v. Singh, 2016-Ohio-639.]
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
TWELFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO
BUTLER COUNTY
BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., :
Plaintiff-Appellee, : CASE NO. CA2015-07-131
: OPINION
- vs - 2/22/2016
:
MEET PAL SINGH, et al., :
Defendants-Appellants. :
CIVIL APPEAL FROM BUTLER COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
Case No. CV2011-08-3068
Lerner, Sampson & Rothfuss, Kirk Sampson, Kimberlee S. Rohr, 120 East Fourth Street, 8th
Floor, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202, for plaintiff-appellee
Manjit Kaur, 7723 Tylers Place Blvd., #156, West Chester, Ohio 45069, defendant-appellant,
pro se
PIPER, J.
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Manjit Kaur, appeals the decision of the Butler County
Court of Common Pleas confirming a judicial sale and ordering distribution of sales proceeds
to plaintiff-appellee, Bank of America.
{¶ 2} In 1992, Meet Pal Singh and Manjit Kaur, as husband and wife, took title to real
property in West Chester, Ohio. Approximately eight years later, Singh mortgaged the
Butler CA2015-07-131
property for $168,000. Payments were routinely made under the terms of the note until
Singh died in 2008. Shortly after Singh's death, Kaur defaulted on the note.
{¶ 3} In 2011, Bank of America, after becoming the holder of the note and mortgage
as a result of merger, initiated a foreclosure action. Kaur filed an answer, setting forth
several defenses. Bank of America filed a motion for summary judgment, and Kaur
defended by claiming she had not been able to perform adequate discovery. The trial court
granted summary judgment in favor of Bank of America after finding that Kaur did not ask for
additional time for discovery and that Bank of America was entitled to judgment as a matter
of law.
{¶ 4} Kaur appealed the trial court's decision to this court, and raised three
assignments of error for our review. Bank of Am., N.A. v. Singh, 12th Dist. Butler No.
CA2012-07-146, 2013-Ohio-1305, ¶ 4. Within her first assignment of error, Kaur argued that
Bank of America failed to comply with several procedural rules by neglecting to have its
counsel file a notice of appearance, by incorrectly identifying the trial court judge on some of
its filings, and by failing to file a response to her answer in a timely manner. Kaur argued in
her second assignment of error that the trial court erred by failing to allow adequate time for
discovery prior to ruling on Bank of America's motion for summary judgment and that the trial
court erred in only allowing her three days to file a memorandum in opposition to Bank of
America's motion for summary judgment. In her final assignment of error, Kaur argued that
the trial court erred in overlooking a motion for mediation filed by both parties. We affirmed
the trial court's judgment in all respects.
{¶ 5} After our judgment, the trial court ordered a judicial sale of the property, and
Bank of America was the high bidder. The trial court then ordered distribution of the
proceeds. Kaur now appeals the trial court's confirmation of the judicial sale and
disbursement of funds, raising five assignments of error.
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{¶ 6} Kaur's assignments of error allege that Bank of America engaged in predatory
lending so that summary judgment should not have been granted in favor of Bank of
America, the trial court erred by permitting Bank of America to substitute counsel without
notice, her attorney was disbarred so that summary judgment should not have been granted
in favor of Bank of America, the trial court abused its discretion by overlooking the parties'
mediation request, and that Bank of America immediately assigned its winning bid to Fannie
Mae after the judicial sale.1 However, we need not reach the merits of these arguments, as
Kaur's arguments do not challenge the trial court's confirmation of the judicial sale.
{¶ 7} When appealing an order of confirmation, the rights and responsibilities of the
parties can no longer be challenged. Bank of Am., N.A. v. Brooks, 12th Dist. Butler No.
CA2013-11-219, 2014-Ohio-2714, ¶ 10. Rather, a party is limited to challenging whether the
sale proceedings conformed to law. Id. As explained by the Ohio Supreme Court,
The confirmation process is an ancillary one in which the issues
present are limited to whether the sale proceedings conformed to
law. Because of this limited nature of the confirmation
proceedings, the parties have a limited right to appeal the
confirmation. For example, on appeal of the order confirming the
sale, the parties may challenge the confirmation of the sale itself,
including computation of the final total owed by the mortgagor,
accrued interest, and actual amounts advanced by the
mortgagee for inspections, appraisals, property protection, and
maintenance. The issues appealed from confirmation are wholly
distinct from the issues appealed from the order of foreclosure.
In other words, if the parties appeal the confirmation
proceedings, they do not get a second bite of the apple, but a
first bite of a different fruit.
CitiMortgage, Inc. v. Roznowski, 139 Ohio St.3d 299, 2014-Ohio-1984, ¶ 40.
{¶ 8} Kaur does not raise any challenges to the judicial sale, and instead, continues
1. Within this argument, Kaur essentially argues that Bank of America is "still acting" as if it is the owner of the
property, rather than Fannie Mae. Kaur reiterates arguments regarding Bank of America's claim that it is the real
party in interest, and challenges which attorney filed a notice of appearance to pursue the writ of possession. As
will be addressed later, these arguments are not validly raised on an appeal from a confirmation sale.
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to raise arguments specific to the grant of summary judgment to Bank of America. As
previously stated, the rights and responsibilities of the parties underlying the foreclosure
action cannot be challenged. Moreover, this court has already addressed most of Kaur's
arguments in her first appeal. As such, our decision upholding the summary judgment as
valid has become law of the case and Kaur's arguments regarding such are barred by res
judicata. See Washington Mut. Bank v. Wallace, 12th Dist. Warren Nos. CA2014-02-024
and CA2014-02-031, 2014-Ohio-5317, ¶ 20 ("the decision of a reviewing court in a case
remains the law of the case on the legal questions involved for all subsequent proceedings in
the case at both the trial and reviewing levels"); and Eagle's View Professional Park
Condominium Unit Owners Assn., Inc. v. EVPP, L.L.C., 12th Dist. Butler No. CA2014-06-134,
2015-Ohio-1929, ¶ 19 ("res judicata precludes a party from both relitigating issues already
decided by a court of competent jurisdiction or raising matters that should have been brought
by the party in a prior action involving the same parties").
{¶ 9} Given that each of Kaur's arguments fail to challenge the judicial sale and
whether such conformed to law, each of Kaur's assignments of error is overruled.
{¶ 10} Judgment affirmed.
M. POWELL, P.J., and HENDRICKSON, J., concur.
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