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transfer to TMC of legal title to the improved property on Maple
Street or to any portion of such property. The Supreme Court of
Ohio has held: “Whether or not recorded, a deed in Ohio passes
title upon its proper execution and delivery, so far as the
grantor is able to convey it.” Wayne Bldg. & Loan Co. of Wooster
v. Yarborough, 228 N.E.2d 841, 853 (Ohio 1967); see also Kniebbe
v. Wade, 118 N.E.2d 833, 835 (Ohio 1954).
With respect to the requirement of “proper execution”, Ohio
law in effect in 1999 required that, in order for a deed of any
interest in real property to be executed properly, the
deed * * * shall be signed by the grantor * * *. The
signing shall be acknowledged by the grantor * * * in
the presence of two witnesses, who shall attest the
signing and subscribe their names to the attestation.
The signing shall be acknowledged by the grantor * * *
before a judge or clerk of a court of record in this
state, or a county auditor, county engineer, notary
public, or mayor, who shall certify the acknowledgment
and subscribe his name to the certificate of the ac-
knowledgment.
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. sec. 5301.01 (Anderson 1999). (We shall
hereinafter refer to Ohio Rev. Code Ann. sec. 5301.01 (Anderson
1999) in effect in 1999 as section 5301.01 of the Ohio Revised
Code in effect in 1999.) As pertinent here, effective February
1, 2002, there was an amendment (2002 amendment) of section
5301.01 of the Ohio Revised Code in effect in 1999, which deleted
the second sentence thereof (quoted above). If a deed17 was
17Although KQC used a document entitled “Bill of Sale”,
respondent does not appear to suggest that such document may not
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