Burke v. Mayfield Brainard Auto Servs.

• Decision Date: 16 February 2023
• Docket Number: 111361
• Citation: 2023 Ohio 446
• Parties: SHELENA BURKE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MAYFIELD BRAINARD AUTO SERVICES, LLC, ET AL., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

2023-Ohio-446

SHELENA BURKE, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
MAYFIELD BRAINARD AUTO SERVICES, LLC, ET AL., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 111361

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga

February 16, 2023

Civil Appeal from the Lyndhurst Municipal Court Case No. 18CVF02765

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED

Shelena Burke, pro se.

Law Offices of Terrence J. Kenneally & Associates Co., Terrance J. Kenneally, Sean M. Kenneally, and Kirk E. Roman, for appellee State Farm Mutual Insurance.

Hans C. Kuenzi Co., L.P.A., and Hans C. Kuenzi, for appellee Mayfield Brainard Auto Service, L.L.C.

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

1

MARY J. BOYLE, JUDGE

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, Shelena Burke ("Burke"), pro se, was involved in a car accident. Defendant-appellee, State Farm Mutual Insurance Company ("State Farm"), was Burke's insurer at the time of the accident. Defendant-appellee, Mayfield Brainard Auto Service, LLC ("Mayfield Brainard"), performed the repairs to Burke's vehicle. Burke appeals the Lyndhurst Municipal Court's judgment adopting the magistrate's decision finding in favor of Mayfield Brainard and State Farm. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

{¶ 2} On December 26, 2018, Burke filed a pro se small claims complaint in the Lyndhurst Municipal Court against Mayfield Brainard and State Farm, seeking restitution for the total loss of her vehicle and only alleging "faulty repairs/poor workmanship causing total shutdown of car's electrical system." Burke sought $6,000 in damages against each defendant. In response, Mayfield Brainard filed an answer alleging that Burke failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and State Farm filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and lack of jurisdiction. State Farm also filed a motion to have the case transferred from small claims to municipal court, which the Lyndhurst Municipal Court granted in March 2019. At the time, Burke did not request a jury trial.

{¶ 3} In June 2019, Burke filed a motion to transfer her case to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. In response to Burke's motion, the Lyndhurst Municipal Court allowed Burke to amend her complaint and set forth a cause of action and claim for relief in excess of the court's jurisdiction.

2

Subsequently, Burke amended her complaint and the Lyndhurst Municipal Court granted her motion to transfer. In her amended complaint, Burke requested that the matter be transferred "since the actual amount of restitution exceeds the jurisdictional limits of the Lyndhurst Municipal Court." Burke alleged that her vehicle was a total loss, she incurred lost wages, rental car fees, and miscellaneous fees, and sought punitive damages. She requested that the defendants "be forced" to pay off the remaining balance owed on her vehicle. Burke made a request for a jury trial, but conditioned her request only upon the Lyndhurst Municipal Court's refusal and denial to transfer her case. Proceedings were then conducted at the common pleas court, but the matter was ultimately returned to the Lyndhurst Municipal Court in April 2021 pursuant to Ohio Supreme Court's decision in State ex rel. State Farm Mut. Ins. Co. v. O'Donnell, 163...