State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor's Office , 2022 Ohio 166 ( 2022 )


Menu:
  • [Cite as State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor's Office, 
    2022-Ohio-166
    .]
    IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO
    ELEVENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
    ASHTABULA COUNTY
    STATE OF OHIO ex rel.                                   CASE NO. 2020-A-0052
    MARTIN PEASPANEN,
    Relator,                               Original Action for Writ of Mandamus
    -v-
    ASHTABULA COUNTY
    AUDITOR'S OFFICE, et al.,
    Respondents.
    PER CURIAM
    OPINION
    Decided: January 24, 2022
    Judgment: Petition denied
    Bradley Hull, IV, Bradley Hull, IV Esq., LLC, 1392 SOM Center Road, Mayfield Heights,
    OH 44124 (For Relator).
    Timothy T. Reid and Kenneth E. Smith, Mansour Gavin, LPA, North Point Tower, 1001
    Lakeside Avenue, Suite 1400, Cleveland, Ohio 44114 (For Respondents Ashtabula
    County Auditor’s Office, Ashtabula County Fiscal Office, Ashtabula County Recorder’s
    Office, and Ashtabula County Commissioners).
    Gary D. Zeid, Sternberg & Zeid Co., L.P.A., 7547 Mentor Avenue, Suite 301, Mentor,
    Ohio 44060-5466 (For Respondents Raymond & Darlene Buck).
    Judith Peaspanen, pro se, 378 Walnut Street, Conneaut, OH 44030 (Respondent).
    PER CURIAM.
    {¶1}     This action in mandamus is presently before us for consideration of the
    motion for summary judgment of respondents, the Ashtabula County Auditor’s
    Office/Ashtabula County Fiscal Office,1 the Ashtabula County Recorder’s Office, and the
    Ashtabula County Commissioners (collectively, “respondents”). In asserting judgment
    should be granted in their favor, respondents contend that relator, Martin Peaspanen (“Mr.
    Peaspanen”), filed a nearly identical mandamus action in the Supreme Court of Ohio.
    See State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula Cty. Auditor’s Office, 
    155 Ohio St.3d 1417
    ,
    
    2019-Ohio-1315
    , 
    120 N.E.3d 864
    , reconsideration denied, 
    156 Ohio St.3d 1408
    , 2019-
    Ohio-2261, 
    123 N.E.3d 1032
    . The Supreme Court issued a merit decision without an
    opinion, granted respondents’ motion to dismiss, and dismissed Mr. Peaspanen’s
    complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Thus, respondents
    argue, the doctrine of res judicata bars Mr. Peaspanen’s claims.
    {¶2}    Mr. Peaspanen filed this action in mandamus to require respondents to
    preapprove deeds concerning a specific property and then subsequently transfer all lots
    and tracts identified in those deeds. Although the allegations and relief sought concern
    only the Ashtabula County respondents, Mr. Peaspanen’s mother, Judith Peaspanen
    (“Judith Peaspanen”), and his aunt and uncle, Darlene and Raymond Buck (collectively,
    the “Bucks”), are also named respondents in this action.
    {¶3}    A review of Mr. Peaspanen’s petition – once one clears the muddied waters
    of the alleged “new underlying facts” – reveals respondents are correct in their assertion
    that the doctrine of res judicata bars the refiling of these claims. The mere fact that Mr.
    Peaspanen attempted new transfers after the Supreme Court dismissed his petition,
    1. Respondents argue that Ashtabula County does not have a “Fiscal Office,” and therefore any claims
    against this respondent must be dismissed. Judith Peaspanen, in her “motion in opposition to the motion
    to dismiss and alternative motion for summary judgment,” contends that “the claims against the Ashtabula
    County Auditor’s Office or the employees or Auditor within the office should not be dismissed * * * as the
    Ashtabula County Fiscal Office is a properly named Defendant.” It appears that the Ashtabula “Fiscal
    Office” is the Ashtabula County Auditor’s Office, and thus those respondents are one and the same.
    2
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    again attempting to use improper legal descriptions, does not afford him the opportunity
    to relitigate issues that have already been decided, i.e., that he must either use the
    recorded legal description or have the lots surveyed. Accordingly, we grant respondents’
    motion for summary judgment and deny relator’s petition.
    Substantive and Procedural History
    {¶4}      This case centers on the property located at 1046 Lake Road, Conneaut,
    Ohio, known as the “Willow Beach Park Plat,” and consists of various tracts that are
    comprised of 12 lots: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 69, 70, 71, 72, and 73.
    {¶5}      The original owners, Elmer and Frances Peaspanen, the grandparents of
    Mr. Peaspanen, purchased eleven of the lots in 1961 and the twelfth lot in 1964. In 1994,
    prior to her passing in 2004, Frances, the surviving spouse, transferred her interest to her
    three children: Thomas Peaspanen (spouse Kathleen), John Peaspanen (spouse Judith),
    and Darlene Buck (spouse Raymond) in three equal shares.
    Transfers of Interest
    {¶6}      As evidenced by the deeds in the record, the interests in the property were
    transferred between the three children and/or their spouses since they received their
    shares in the property, although not all of the transfers are in the record or pertinent to
    this petition.
    {¶7}      In 2010, Darlene Buck filed several general warranty deeds, transferring her
    interests to herself and Raymond. Attached to the deeds was a new surveyor’s legal
    description, which was accepted by the Ashtabula County Engineer on June 22, 2010. It
    is this updated legal description that Mr. Peaspanen asserts is incorrect and that is the
    current legal description on file with the auditor’s office.
    3
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    {¶8}     By 2016, the Bucks held a two-thirds interest in the property, and Judith
    Peaspanen held a one-third interest (spouse John Peaspanen is deceased).
    Medina County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 16CIV0494
    {¶9}     In 2016, Mr. Peaspanen filed a complaint in the Medina County Court of
    Common Pleas, case no. 16CIV0494 (“Medina court case”), against Judith Peaspanen,
    the Bucks, and Thomas and Kathleen Peaspanen, alleging adverse possession and
    demanding judgment for an order to quiet title to the property and to declare all rights,
    interests, and/or other rights in the property terminated.2
    {¶10} A review of the docket in that case reveals the parties reached a settlement
    agreement whereby the Bucks agreed to sell their interest to Mr. Peaspanen. The court
    issued a judgment entry, finding that the parties’ claims were settled and resolved. The
    parties agreed they would execute and comply with the purchase agreement and that the
    court would retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the settlement agreement.
    {¶11} After the parties entered into the purchase agreement for the property, the
    Bucks and Judith Peaspanen attempted to transfer their interests in the property via quit-
    claim deeds to Mr. Peaspanen. The Bucks also executed three “affidavits of fact related
    to title,” in which they averred that “warranty deeds were previously prepared for parcels
    * * *” (seemingly in reference to the 2010 warranty deeds with the updated legal
    description that is the current recorded legal description on file), and that “the correct legal
    descriptions * * * to the parcel numbers * * * are identified on Exhibit A and B” (Exhibits A
    and B were the prior recorded 1961 and 1964 descriptions). They further averred that
    2. We may take judicial notice of a document filed in another court, not for the truth of the matters asserted
    in the other litigation, but rather to establish the fact of such litigation and related filings. Washington v.
    Eppinger, 11th Dist. Trumbull No. 2020-T-0024, 
    2020-Ohio-3851
    , ¶ 45; State ex rel. Coles v. Granville, 
    116 Ohio St.3d 231
    , 
    2007-Ohio-6057
    , 
    877 N.E.2d 968
    , ¶ 20.
    4
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    they are aware “that the neighbor Bonnie Allchin claims an 8 foot easement, and or other
    claim on title of 8 feet, on Lots. No.4 and 5. However, affiants did not give Bonnie Allchin
    an easement or sell or give any land on any of the subject parcels * * * since Affiants
    became the titled owners to any of the subject parcels.” Thus, it appears the affidavits
    were oblique improper attempts to use the prior 1961 and 1964 legal descriptions.
    {¶12} The Ashtabula County Auditor’s Office denied approval for the transfers
    because the deeds did not meet the Auditor’s conveyance standards, i.e., the deeds
    contained improper legal descriptions that did not match the description on file, and no
    new survey was attached from which the legal description could be updated.             The
    Auditor’s office noted legal descriptions for the property cannot be corrected with an
    “affidavit of fact related to title.”
    {¶13} Through a flurry of motions filed in the Medina County case, the parties
    sought to enforce the settlement, to show cause, and to rescind the settlement
    agreement. Mr. Peaspanen also filed a complaint for a writ of mandamus in the Supreme
    Court of Ohio, and the trial court granted a stay upon Mr. Peaspanen’s motion.
    Writ of Mandamus in the Supreme Court of Ohio
    {¶14} In State ex rel. Peaspanen, supra, Mr. Peaspanen filed in the Supreme
    Court of Ohio a nearly identical complaint as that filed in the instant action against the
    same respondents. More specifically, he contended that respondents had no legal right
    to decline approval of the transfer of real estate due to their disagreement with the legal
    description, and that the Ohio Revised Code specifically permits a deed with a legal
    description that does not match the county’s records to be recorded where the “affidavits
    of fact related to title” permit the transfer to proceed. Thus, Mr. Peaspanen sought a writ
    5
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    of mandamus compelling respondents to “preapprove” his “correction” deeds and
    subsequently transfer the lots and tracts identified in those deeds.
    {¶15} Respondents filed a motion to dismiss, contending Mr. Peaspanen did not
    state any facts entitling him to relief, specifically arguing that they properly complied with
    R.C. 315.251 in declining to preapprove the deeds and effectuate transfer; the “affidavits
    of fact of title” were not sufficient pursuant to R.C. 5301.252 to correct conflicts and
    ambiguities in the recorded description of the property; and the proper procedural vehicle
    for the relief Mr. Peaspanen was seeking was a declaratory judgment, not a writ of
    mandamus.
    {¶16} Although Mr. Peaspanen alleges in his petition before this court that the
    Supreme Court of Ohio “dismissed Plaintiff’s Writ Complaint without opinion or
    explanation,” the court granted respondents’ motion to dismiss and dismissed the
    complaint on April 10, 2019, in a merit decision without an opinion. See State ex rel.
    Peaspanen.
    {¶17} After the Supreme Court of Ohio’s decision dismissing Mr. Peaspanen’s
    complaint on the merits, the trial court in the Medina court case released the stay, and
    the Bucks filed a motion to show cause against Mr. Peaspanen. The trial court granted
    another stay after Mr. Peaspanen filed the instant petition for a writ of mandamus, albeit
    in the Ninth District Court of Appeals, State ex rel. Peaspanen v. Ashtabula County
    Auditor’s Office, 9th Dist. Medina No. 20CA0036-M.
    The Instant Petition for a Writ of Mandamus
    {¶18} In the Ninth District, respondents filed a “motion to dismiss, for summary
    judgment, or in the alternative, to transfer venue to the Eleventh District Court of Appeals.”
    6
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    The Ninth District determined that whether the Bucks, i.e., the Medina County residents,
    were present in the case or not, Mr. Peaspanen’s allegations and relief sought related
    only to the Ashtabula County respondents and not to the Bucks or Judith Peaspanen.
    Thus, the Bucks are nominal parties and venue could not be based on their residence.
    Further, the alleged conduct in this case, i.e., the refusal to record deeds, occurred solely
    in Ashtabula County. The Ninth District concluded that the only proper forum for these
    claims is Ashtabula County and transferred the case to our court.
    {¶19} A review of the complaint reveals it is nearly identical to the complaint filed
    in the Supreme Court of Ohio; however, Mr. Peaspanen contends he is alleging “new
    underlying facts.” More specifically, he alleges that in 2019, after his petition for a writ
    was dismissed in the Supreme Court of Ohio, Judith Peaspanen executed a warranty
    deed that transferred her interest in the property (Lots 69, 70, 71, 10, 9, 72, 73, and 6) to
    Mr. Peaspanen. A few months later, in early 2020, Mr. Peaspanen executed a warranty
    deed that transferred his one-third interest in Lots 69, 70, 71, and 9 back to Judith
    Peaspanen. He contends these deeds contain the proper legal descriptions of the
    property from 1961 and 1964 and that the transfers updated the recorded legal
    description at the auditor’s office.
    {¶20} Mr. Peaspanen further alleges that after these transfers, respondents
    refused to preapprove deeds for all twelve lots and informed him that “they are bound by
    law to use the same legal description as the prior grantor receiving title originally.”
    (Emphasis sic.)    The auditor further informed him that several of the lots were not
    presented for transfer in the proper form with necessary exhibits and references and that
    several others did not include legal descriptions of last record; thus, those required either
    7
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    a new legal description via a survey or should have included the current recorded
    description.
    {¶21} Mr. Peaspanen seeks a writ of mandamus to compel respondents to
    preapprove and transfer all lots and tracts identified in his “correction” deeds.         He
    contends that the conveyance standards of Ashtabula County and R.C. 319.20 require
    respondents to accept the deeds using the 1961 and 1964 legal descriptions, especially
    when “the presented legal descriptions are accompanied by ‘affidavits of facts related to
    title’ prepared by the grantors attesting that the prior legal descriptions are the correct
    legal descriptions of the property.”
    {¶22} Attached to the complaint are the same exhibits that were filed in the
    Supreme Court of Ohio case, including transfers of some of the interests of the property
    prior to 2016, as well as the 2019 and 2020 deeds between Mr. Peaspanen and Judith
    Peaspanen, and emails between himself and respondents.
    {¶23} A review of the successive transfers reveals that the 2019 deed transferred
    Judith Peaspanen’s interest in Tracts 1 (Lot 69), 2 (Lot 70), 3 (Lots 71, 10), 4 (Lots 9, 72,
    73), and 5 (Lot 6). The Ashtabula County Auditor stamped approval for Tracts 1-4 (Lots
    69, 70, 71, 10, 9, 72, 73) and noted that a new survey was required for the next
    conveyance of Tract 5 (Lot 6). Several months later, Mr. Peaspanen transferred some of
    his interests in the tracts back to Judith: Tract 1 (Lot 69), Tract 2 (Lot 70), Tract 3 (Lot
    10), Tract 4 (Lot 9), and Tract 5 (Lot 6). That deed reveals that Tract 5 (Lot 6), contrary
    to Mr. Peaspanen’s assertion, was not accepted and is crossed out, with a stamped
    notation by the auditor that a new survey for an updated legal description is required.
    8
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    {¶24} Respondents filed a “motion to dismiss original action in mandamus or
    alternative motion for summary judgment.” After setting the matter for a pretrial and
    referring the case to mediation, we issued a judgment entry, in part to give the parties
    notice that respondents’ motion to dismiss will be determined as a motion for summary
    judgment and to allow time to submit evidentiary quality materials. We also denied Mr.
    Peaspanen’s “motion to reject transfer and return case to Ninth District of The Ohio Court
    of Appeals.” In a separate judgment entry, upon Mr. Peaspanen’s motion, we granted
    the parties additional time to submit evidentiary quality materials.
    {¶25} In their motion for summary judgment, respondents argue that Mr.
    Peaspanen is attempting a “second bite at the apple”; thus, his claims are barred by the
    doctrine of res judicata. In addition, they raise the same arguments that were considered
    and decided by the Supreme Court of Ohio, i.e., that respondents have complied with
    R.C. 315.251 by declining to preapprove the deeds and effectuate transfer of the property
    to Mr. Peaspanen; the “affidavits of facts related to title” are not sufficient pursuant to R.C.
    5301.252 to correct conflicts and ambiguities in the recorded legal description of the
    property; and, to the extent Mr. Peaspanen attempts to “correct” the legal description, a
    declaratory judgment is the appropriate vehicle for the relief he is seeking.
    {¶26} As to the “newly alleged acts,” respondents argue that the 2019 and 2020
    transfers did not change the legal descriptions of the property, that a “new survey
    required” was noted by the auditor on the 2019 deeds, was not accepted, and therefore,
    not transferred, in 2020. In sum, these successive transfers did not change the recorded
    legal description. Thus, respondents contend Mr. Peaspanen’s petition is barred by res
    9
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    judicata because he is attempting to relitigate the identical issues with the same parties
    over the same property that have already been decided by the Supreme Court of Ohio.
    {¶27} In his brief in opposition, Mr. Peaspanen contends, without the submission
    of any evidentiary quality materials, that the Supreme Court of Ohio “dismissed the case
    without an opinion” and, further, that the underlying facts have changed since the
    Supreme Court case, i.e., the 2019 and 2020 transfers between himself and Judith
    Peaspanen changed the legal descriptions of the property since they used the 1961 and
    1964 legal descriptions. After those transfers, “respondents refused to preapprove and
    record deeds for all affected parcels, lots, tracts, plats, and plots for each property.”
    {¶28} Respondent, Judith Peaspanen, filed a “motion in opposition to the motion
    to dismiss and alternative motion for summary judgment.” She argues that respondents
    are not following conveyancing standards and are confusing the issue with R.C.
    5301.252, which involves the recorder’s responsibility, not the auditor and that the auditor
    is required to transfer the deeds pursuant to R.C. 319.20 because Mr. Peaspanen also
    filed “affidavits of fact related to title” and has a “proper order of a court.” She also
    erroneously argues that the Supreme Court of Ohio did not grant a decision on its merits
    but that it “just dismissed the case.”
    Standard of Review
    {¶29} Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy “to be issued with great caution and
    discretion and only when the way is clear.” State ex rel. Taylor v. Glasser, 
    50 Ohio St.2d 165
    , 166, 
    364 N.E.2d 1
     (1977), citing State ex rel. Kriss v. Richards, 
    102 Ohio St. 455
    ,
    
    132 N.E. 23
     (1921), and State ex rel. Skinner Engine Co. v. Kouri, 
    136 Ohio St. 343
    , 
    25 N.E.2d 940
     (1940). A relator seeking a writ of mandamus must establish (1) a clear legal
    10
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    right to the requested relief, (2) a clear legal duty on the part of the respondent official or
    governmental unit to provide it, and (3) the lack of an adequate remedy in the ordinary
    course of the law. State ex rel. Waters v. Spaeth, 
    131 Ohio St.3d 55
    , 
    2012-Ohio-69
    , 
    960 N.E.2d 452
    , ¶ 6. The relator must prove entitlement to the writ by clear and convincing
    evidence. State ex rel. Cleveland Right to Life v. State Controlling Bd., 
    138 Ohio St.3d 57
    , 
    2013-Ohio-5632
    , 
    3 N.E.3d 185
    , ¶ 2. See State ex rel. Manley v. Walsh, 
    142 Ohio St.3d 384
    , 
    2014-Ohio-4563
    , 
    31 N.E.3d 608
    , ¶ 18.
    {¶30} “Since summary judgment denies the party his or her ‘day in court’ it is not
    to be viewed lightly as docket control or as a ‘little trial.’ The jurisprudence of summary
    judgment standards has placed burdens on both the moving and the nonmoving party.
    In Dresher v. Burt [
    75 Ohio St.3d 280
    , 
    662 N.E.2d 264
     (1996)], the Supreme Court of
    Ohio held that the moving party seeking summary judgment bears the initial burden of
    informing the trial court of the basis for the motion and identifying those portions of the
    record before the trial court that demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of fact on a
    material element of the nonmoving party’s claim. The evidence must be in the record or
    the motion cannot succeed. The moving party cannot discharge its initial burden under
    Civ.R. 56 simply by making a conclusory assertion that the nonmoving party has no
    evidence to prove its case but must be able to specifically point to some evidence of the
    type listed in Civ.R. 56(C) that affirmatively demonstrates that the nonmoving party has
    no evidence to support the nonmoving party’s claims.” Welch v. Ziccarelli, 11th Dist. Lake
    No. 2006-L-229, 
    2007-Ohio-4374
    , ¶ 40.
    {¶31} “If the moving party fails to satisfy its initial burden, the motion for summary
    judgment must be denied.        If the moving party has satisfied its initial burden, the
    11
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    nonmoving party has a reciprocal burden outlined in the last sentence of Civ.R. 56(E) to
    set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial. If the nonmoving party
    fails to do so, summary judgment, if appropriate shall be entered against the nonmoving
    party based on the principles that have been firmly established in Ohio for quite some
    time in Mitseff v. Wheeler (1988), 
    38 Ohio St.3d 112
    [, 
    526 N.E.2d 798
    ].” 
    Id.
    {¶32} Respondents argue that Mr. Peaspanen’s complaint is barred by the
    doctrine of res judicata. In opposition, Mr. Peaspanen argues that the Supreme Court did
    not decide his previous petition on the merits and, further, that the underlying facts have
    changed and new issues have arisen due to subsequent transfers of the property.
    {¶33} As already noted, a review of the Supreme Court’s judgment entry reveals
    the case was decided on its merits without an opinion. State ex rel. Peaspanen. The
    court granted respondents’ motion to dismiss and dismissed Mr. Peaspanen’s petition for
    failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
    {¶34} As the Supreme Court of Ohio explained in State ex rel. Arcadia Acres v.
    Ohio Dept. of Job & Family Servs., 
    123 Ohio St.3d 54
    , 
    2009-Ohio-4176
    , 
    914 N.E.2d 170
    (2009):
    {¶35} “Civ.R. 41(B) states the policy of the law with regard to involuntary
    dismissals:   only dismissals on jurisdictional grounds–either lack of subject-matter
    jurisdiction or lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendant–raise a presumption of no
    prejudice to reasserting the same claim through a second complaint. Civ.R. 41(B)(4).
    Other involuntary dismissals constitute ‘adjudication on the merits’ unless the dismissal
    order specifies the contrary.
    12
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    {¶36} “It follows that a dismissal grounded on a complaint’s ‘failure to state a claim
    upon which relief can be granted’ constitutes a judgment that is an ‘adjudication on the
    merits.’ As a result, res judicata bars refiling the claim. See Hughes v. Calabrese, 
    95 Ohio St.3d 334
    , 
    2002-Ohio-2217
    , 
    767 N.E.2d 725
    , ¶ 9, 12, 13 (the Supreme Court of
    Ohio’s earlier dismissal of a prohibition complaint barred a successive complaint brought
    in an appellate court). Because the appellate court’s dismissal of the previous action
    invokes res judicata, it ‘“‘bars all subsequent actions based upon any claim arising out of
    the transaction or occurrence that was the subject matter of the previous action.’”’ Id. at
    ¶ 12, quoting Kelm v. Kelm (2001), 
    92 Ohio St.3d 223
    , 227, 
    749 N.E.2d 299
    , quoting
    Grava v. Parkman Twp. (1995), 
    73 Ohio St.3d 379
    , 
    653 N.E.2d 226
    , syllabus.” Id. at ¶
    14-15. See also State ex rel. Kerr v. Kelsey, 
    160 Ohio St.3d 45
    , 
    2020-Ohio-1057
    , 
    153 N.E.3d 42
    , ¶ 5 (Supreme Court of Ohio did not specify otherwise in the entry dismissing
    relator’s mandamus complaint in a previous case without an opinion, thus the dismissal
    pursuant to Civ.R. 41(B)(3) operated as an adjudication on the merits).
    {¶37} Res judicata bars a second action when (1) a court of competent jurisdiction
    rendered a valid, final judgment on the merits in an earlier action, (2) the second action
    involved the same parties or their privies, (3) the second action raises claims that were or
    could have been litigated in the first action, and (4) the second action arises out of the
    same transaction or occurrence that was the subject of the first action. State ex rel.
    Armatas v. Plain Twp. Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 
    160 Ohio St.3d 161
    , 
    2020-Ohio-2973
    , 
    154 N.E.3d 74
    , ¶ 9.
    {¶38} We agree with respondents that Mr. Peaspanen is attempting to relitigate
    the same issue. Simply because two additional transfers were attempted by different
    13
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    grantors and grantees does not change the underlying nucleus of this dispute – the deeds
    must contain either a new survey or the recorded description currently on file.
    {¶39} In both transfers, Mr. Peaspanen is attempting to transfer the interests in
    the property with a different legal description that does not match the legal description on
    file. Although he used the 1961 and 1964 descriptions in the 2019 and 2020 deeds, the
    legal descriptions on file did not change but rather were stamped “new survey required
    for next conveyance.” Only some of the tracts were approved for conveyance, and those
    did not change the recorded legal description.       Thus, the undisputed material facts
    demonstrate that Mr. Peaspanen’s claims are barred by the doctrine of res judicata.
    {¶40} Furthermore, Mr. Peaspanen failed to meet his reciprocal burden on
    summary judgment as outlined in Civ.R. 56(E) by failing to introduce any evidentiary
    quality material to rebut respondents’ assertion that there are no genuine issues of
    material fact. See Dresher at 294. Pursuant to Civ.R. 56(E), “[w]hen a motion for
    summary judgment is made and supported as provided in this rule, an adverse party may
    not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of the party’s pleadings, but the party’s
    response, by affidavit or as otherwise provided in this rule, must set forth specific facts
    showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. If the party does not so respond, summary
    judgment, if appropriate, shall be entered against the party.”
    {¶41} Quite simply, Mr. Peaspanen has not demonstrated any new material facts.
    He attempted to again transfer the property with an erroneous legal description. A change
    in material facts either raises a new material issue or would have been relevant to the
    resolution of a material issue involved in the earlier action. Armatas at ¶ 12, citing State
    14
    Case No. 2020-A-0052
    ex rel. Westchester Estates, Inc. v. Bacon, 
    61 Ohio St.2d 42
    , 
    399 N.E.2d 81
     (1980),
    paragraph two of the syllabus.
    {¶42} Finding Mr. Peaspanen has failed to set forth any genuine issues of material
    fact and that his petition before this court is barred by the doctrine of res judicata, we
    grant respondents’ motion for summary judgment. Mr. Peaspanen’s petition is denied.
    THOMAS R. WRIGHT, P.J., CYNTHIA WESTCOTT RICE, J., MARY JANE TRAPP, J.,
    concur.
    15
    Case No. 2020-A-0052