Blisswood Village Home Owners Assn. v. Genesis Real Estate Holdings Group, L.L.C., 2018 Ohio 4215

Blisswood Village Home Owners Association (Blisswood) sued to foreclose on a Euclid condominium unit owned by Genesis Real Estate Holdings (Genesis) for unpaid condominium assessments and related fees; Blisswood recorded a certificate of lien on September 22, 2015.
Blisswood sought $2,054.46 plus interest, late fees, collection costs, and attorneys’ fees under R.C. 5311.18, asserting a statutory lien for unpaid common expenses.
Trial court denied Blisswood’s summary-judgment motion; a bench trial before a magistrate followed. The magistrate entered a decree of foreclosure finding unpaid assessments and a valid lien; the trial court adopted the magistrate’s decision over Genesis’s objections.
Genesis argued on appeal that the trial court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because Blisswood’s lien was invalid under R.C. Chapter 5311 (asserting assessments were enforcement assessments requiring procedural protections under R.C. 5311.081(C)).
The property was sold at sheriff’s sale and the sale was later confirmed by the trial court; Genesis appealed the foreclosure judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the common pleas court had subject-matter jurisdiction to hear a condominium-assessment foreclosure	Blisswood: courts of common pleas have jurisdiction over foreclosure actions and may adjudicate lien validity	Genesis: foreclosure was void for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction because Blisswood’s lien was not a valid property interest under R.C. Chapter 5311 (assessments were enforcement assessments requiring R.C. 5311.081(C) procedures)	Court held common pleas court had subject-matter jurisdiction; jurisdictional challenge fails because foreclosure actions are within court of common pleas’ subject-matter jurisdiction and alleged invalidity of the lien goes to merits, not jurisdiction
Whether appellate review should reach Genesis’s statutory-lien merits argument	Blisswood: appellant failed to assign a separate error on lien validity and did not provide complete trial transcript; appellee relied on regularity presumption	Genesis: raised lien-validity challenges in briefing and below; asked appellate court to decide lien validity and procedural defects in imposing enforcement assessments	Court: declined to reach merits because Genesis’s appeal presented only a jurisdiction assignment of error and the record lacked a complete transcript; court must presume regularity without absent transcript	Court refused to address lien-merits due to App.R. briefing and record deficiencies; affirmed trial court

Bank of Am., N.A. v. Kuchta, 21 N.E.3d 1040 (Ohio 2014) (distinguishes subject-matter jurisdiction from case-specific jurisdiction and confirms foreclosure actions lie within common pleas court subject-matter jurisdiction)
Knapp v. Edwards Laboratories, 400 N.E.2d 384 (Ohio 1980) (appellant bears duty to provide trial transcript; omissions require presumption of regularity)
Robinson v. Williams, 57 N.E. 55 (Ohio 1900) (historical authority that foreclosure actions are within common pleas court jurisdiction)