Lowery v. Bradley, 2017 Ohio 1273

Plaintiff Charles B. Lowery (pro se, an inmate) sued defendants Larry W. Bradley (an inmate) and Elizabeth Roberts for breach of contract and fraud, alleging he prepared legal paperwork for Bradley’s probate-related matters in exchange for payment that was not delivered.
Bradley claimed he had already paid Lowery an agreed settlement and moved to dismiss; the trial court treated the motion as Civ.R. 12(B)(6) and denied it.
The case proceeded to a bench trial (parties appeared via video); no trial transcript is in the appellate record and Lowery was denied a transcript at government expense.
The trial court found the parties had engaged in an unlawful contract for the unauthorized practice of law and held Lowery was not entitled to compensation, entering judgment for defendants.
On appeal Lowery raised three assignments of error: (1) that the trial court wrongly found he sought to practice law without a license; (2) that the court allowed defendants’ perjurious testimony; and (3) that the judgment was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
The Fourth District affirmed, overruling all assignments of error because Lowery failed to provide the trial transcript or an App.R. 9 alternative, requiring the court to presume regularity of the trial court’s proceedings.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Lowery engaged in unauthorized practice of law	Lowery argued the facts and evidence showed he did not practice law without a license	Bradley asserted the work was compensated and/or otherwise defense to payment; trial court found unlawful contract	Court affirmed trial court’s finding (no transcript to rebut presumption of correctness)
Whether trial court erred by admitting perjurious testimony	Lowery claimed Bradley submitted perjurious testimony that tainted the judgment	Defendants maintained testimony properly considered at trial	Court declined to review alleged perjury claims without transcript; presumes proceedings valid and affirms
Whether judgment is against the manifest weight of the evidence	Lowery contended the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence	Defendants argued evidence supported the judgment (and that Lowery had been paid)	Court refused to review weight-of-evidence claim without trial transcript and affirmed
Whether appellant met appellate-record obligations for review	Lowery contended record supported his claims despite lack of transcript	Appellees relied on record as filed; court applied App.R. 9 and precedent	Court held appellant must provide transcript or App.R. 9 alternative; absent transcript, must presume trial court acted properly and affirm

Knapp v. Edwards Laboratories, 61 Ohio St.2d 197 (appellant bears burden to provide record for review; absent transcript, presumption of regularity)
State v. Skaggs, 53 Ohio St.2d 162 (court’s review limited where record does not affirmatively show error)