Marrie v. Internatinoal Local 7176/21/2002
. In this accelerated calendar case submitted on the briefs of the parties, appellant, Stephen M. Marrie, appeals the judgment of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, granting summary judgment in favor of appellee, International Local 717. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
. On August 19, 1999, appellant filed a complaint against his former employer, appellee, for disability discrimination. According to the complaint, appellant suffered from knee and hip degeneration, "which impair his mobility and substantially limit [appellant] in the major life activities of walking."
. Prior to March 1994, appellant alleged that he, "with reasonable accommodation of being able to work in the Union Hall without being required to climb stairs more than once a day, was able to perform the essential functions of his job as Benefits Administrator." However, in March and May 1994, appellee allegedly assigned to appellant additional job responsibilities that required him to walk to perform these job duties, which allegedly aggravated his hip and knee impairments. After appellee allegedly refused to comply with appellant's verbal or written requests for reasonable accommodation, appellant was terminated on August 30, 1994.
. As such, in the complaint, appellant accused appellee of discrimination in refusing to make reasonable accommodations for his disability, in violation of R.C. Chapter 4112. Appellant further claimed that his termination was "in retaliation for alleging that [appellee] violated federal and state anti-discrimination laws[,] and that appellee "acted with malice or with reckless indifference * when it refused to make reasonable accommodations for known disability and when it terminated employment in retaliation." As a result of appellee's alleged discriminatory conduct, appellant claimed he suffered economic loss, mental anguish, pain and suffering, and other non-pecuniary losses.
. The record before this court indicates that appellee did not file an answer to the complaint, but instead filed a motion to dismiss on the basis of res judicata. In response, appellant filed a motion to strike asserting that appellee could not raise such an affirmative defense through a dismissal under Civ.R. 12(B). See Jim's Steak House, Inc. v. Cleveland, 81 Ohio St.3d 18, 21, 1998-Ohio-440; State ex rel. Freeman v. Morris (1991), 62 Ohio St.3d 107, 109.
. Subsequently, on January 14, 2000, appellee filed a motion for summary judgment contending that appellant's action was barred by the doctrine of res judicata. In support of its motion, appellee presented, inter alia, a certified and time-stamped copy of the October 1998 complaint and the January 22, 1999 judgment entry issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division. According to appellee, this former complaint was duplicated verbatim into the instant complaint, and both lawsuits allege that appellee discriminated on the basis of appellant's disability.
. In response, on February 2, 2000, appellant filed a memorandum contra to appellee's motion for summary judgment arguing that because the federal court's dismissal was not an adjudication on the merits, his current state court discrimination lawsuit was not barred by the doctrine of res judicata. To support his motion, appellant attached an uncertified copy of the motion to dismiss and the accompanying memorandum filed in federal court.
. After taking the matter under advisement, the trial court granted appellee's motion for summary judgment without explanation. It is from this judgment appellant appeals, advancing a single assi
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