Appeal of foreclosure order that does not dispose of all the remaining claims must be dismissed for want of a final appealable order

Estate of Small v. Bank of New York, 3d Dist. No. 15-13-10, 2014-Ohio-3546. After the trial court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and held that the mortgage was released and satisfied as to one of the parcels of land at issue in a foreclosure matter that involved cross claims from both sides, the Third District Court of Appeals addressed whether the trial court’s ruling was a final appealable order. Recognizing that individual cases that have been consolidated cannot be appealed until the consolidated cases reach their conclusion absent Civil Rule 54(B) certification in the judgment entry, the Appellate Court stated that, while the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment was granted, the trial court did not dispose of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The judgment entry also did not enunciate the rights or liabilities of the parties or resolve the claims as to all the defendants. Because a foreclosure order that does not dispose of all the remaining claims must be dismissed for want of a final appealable order—and the fact that the judgment entry left many important questions unanswered—the Appellate Court dismissed the appeal and held that the trial court should explicitly resolve each case separately and address the rights of all the parties.