514 N.E.2d 937 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1986
This is the plaintiff's second lawsuit after an automobile allegedly struck her as she crossed a street. In her first case, she claimed that M.J. Turner injured her, because a police report gave that name for the car's owner without identifying the driver. Her lawyer concluded that the owner was the driver. The plaintiff knew that the driver was a man. However, M.J. Turner is a woman, and her son was driving that day. Consequently, the court granted M.J. Turner's summary judgment motion and dismissed the plaintiff's personal injury case.
The plaintiff then sued the owner (M.J. Turner) and the owner's lawyer, claiming that they fraudulently misled her to believe she sued the proper party. She had discovered her error after the statute of limitations barred her action against the owner's son. At the close of the plaintiff's evidence, the court directed verdicts for the defendants, the car's owner and the owner's lawyer. The plaintiff appeals, arguing that her evidence demonstrated the defendants' liability for common-law fraud and for violating Civ. R. 11. We reject those contentions and affirm the trial court's judgment.
The plaintiff contends that the owner's lawyer misled her by using masculine pronouns for M.J. Turner in the owner's answer. The plaintiff's complaint alleged that M.J. Turner was the driver and that "he negligently drove his vehicle against plaintiff" (emphasis added). The owner's answer replied:
"[T]he Defendant, by and through his attorney, and for his answer to the Complaint in the above captioned cause, denies the allegations contained in paragraph[s] 1 and 2 therein." (Emphasis added.)
The plaintiff claims that the owner's lawyer misled the plaintiff's lawyer during two pretrials and a telephone conversation. According to the plaintiff's evidence, the owner's lawyer denied that the owner struck the plaintiff and suggested that the plaintiff feigned an impact. However, *172 the owner's lawyer neither agreed that the owner drove the car, nor disclosed that she was not the driver. The plaintiff's counsel conducted no discovery to confirm the driver's identity.
The plaintiff's evidence failed to demonstrate any actionable fraud. A fraud claim asserts a misrepresentation that is material to a transaction and induces reasonable reliance. Burr v. StarkCty. Bd. of Commrs. (1986),
In this case, there was no evidence that the plaintiff's reliance on her adversary's representations was reasonable. Her counsel conducted no discovery and virtually no investigation to confirm the proper party's identity. A litigation participant's false statements may justify relief from a resulting judgment, pursuant to Civ. R. 60(B)(3). They may also subject an offending lawyer to disciplinary sanctions. See DR 7-102(A)(5) and (7); and Civ. R. 11. They do not justify liability absent reasonable reliance.
However, that rule has no application here. It authorizes a court to impose sanctions in the course of an action under its supervision. Those sanctions might include an order to reimburse expenses which an adversary incurred to meet unjustified pleadings. Cf. Stevens v. Kiraly (1985),
The court properly directed verdicts for the defendants. After construing the evidence most strongly in the plaintiff's favor, reasonable minds would necessarily find for the defendants. See Civ. R. 50(A)(4); Fricker v. Stokes (1986),
Judgment affirmed.
MITROVICH, J., concurs.
ANN MCMANAMON, J., concurs in judgment only.
MITROVICH, J., of the Court of Common Pleas of Lake County, sitting by assignment in the Eighth Appellate District. *173