Tax Ease Ohio, L.L.C. v. Keeton, 2021 Ohio 1815

Tax Ease Ohio, L.L.C. filed a 2019 tax-certificate foreclosure against Adrian Keeton and others; the county treasurer admitted an interest and Keeton timely answered denying liability and asserting affirmative defenses.
Tax Ease moved for default judgment against nonresponding parties, sought attorney fees, and moved for summary judgment against Keeton asserting entitlement under R.C. Chapter 5721.
Keeton opposed summary judgment, filing a sworn affidavit, the 2017 installment-plan contract, and bank records showing $377 debits to Tax Ease, asserting the debt had been paid per the installment plan.
A magistrate granted default against nonrespondents, taxed attorney fees, and entered summary-judgment findings on March 4 (decision with written findings filed March 13) but did not address Keeton’s evidence or explain why it did not create a genuine issue.
Keeton filed objections (and a motion for leave to expand time) relying on COVID-19 tolling and local foreclosure orders; the trial court adopted the magistrate’s decision and later denied leave as untimely.
The appellate court held Keeton’s objections were timely under the Ohio Supreme Court and Cuyahoga County tolling/orders and reversed and remanded because the trial court erred by not considering the timely objections and the evidence they raised.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Timeliness of objections to magistrate's decision given COVID tolling/local foreclosure order	Objections were untimely; Keeton waived review except for plain error	Tolling orders and local foreclosure order treated the magistrate’s March 13 filing as filed May 18, making objections timely	Objections were timely under the Ohio Supreme Court tolling and the county foreclosure order; trial court erred in refusing to consider them
Grant of summary judgment without addressing Keeton's affidavit, contract, and bank records	Tax Ease: it held the tax certificate, satisfied statutory prerequisites, and was entitled to judgment as a matter of law	Keeton: his sworn affidavit, installment-plan contract, and bank records created genuine issues of material fact precluding summary judgment	Reversed and remanded — trial court failed to consider the objected-to matters/evidence and must independently review the objections and underlying evidence
Default judgment and taxation of attorney fees against nonanswering parties	Magistrate properly entered default and awarded costs where parties did not respond	Keeton challenged default and fee award in his objections	Appellate opinion notes objections as timely and requires trial-court consideration of those objections (remand)

In re Tolling of Time Requirements Imposed by Rules Promulgated by Supreme Court & Use of Technology, 158 Ohio St.3d 1447 (2020) (Ohio Supreme Court tolled filing deadlines and court-rule time limits during COVID emergency)
O'Keeffe v. McClain, 158 Ohio St.3d 1478 (2020) (tolling order does not apply to court-ordered deadlines entered after March 9, 2020)