Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CC-2556 | May 22, 2019 Page 1 of 13

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), 

this Memorandum Decision shall not be 

regarded as precedent or cited before any 

court except for the purpose of establishing 

the defense of res judicata, collateral 

estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT

Jason M. Massaro

The Massaro Legal Group, LLC

Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE

Ann Marie Waldron

Waldron Law

Indianapolis, Indiana

Andrea Ciobanu

Carly Roseboom

Ciobanu Law, P.C.

Indianapolis, Indiana

I N T H E

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Trustee of the Rose M. Luebbert

Irrevocable Trust No. 1 for the 

Benefit of the Rose M. Luebbert 

Family,

Appellant-Defendant,

v.

Maple Family LLC,

Appellee-Plaintiff

May 22, 2019

Court of Appeals Case No.

18A-CC-2556

Appeal from the 

Hamilton Superior Court

The Honorable 

Steven R. Nation, Judge

Trial Court Cause No.

29D01-1403-CC-2803

Vaidik, Chief Judge.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CC-2556 | May 22, 2019 Page 2 of 13

Case Summary

[1] Robert Luebbert, in his capacity as the trustee of a trust, sued Maple Family, 

LLC, in Nebraska state court. Luebbert sent the complaint to Maple Family’s 

registered agent, but Maple Family did not respond to the lawsuit, and 

Luebbert obtained a default judgment in excess of $250,000. Luebbert then

filed an action in Indiana, where Maple Family owns real estate, seeking to 

enforce the judgment. Maple Family opposed that effort, claiming that sending 

the complaint to its registered agent was not reasonably calculated, under the 

circumstances, to put Maple Family on notice of the Nebraska lawsuit. The 

trial court agreed with Maple Family and denied Luebbert’s request for a writ of 

execution. Luebbert appeals. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] Luebbert is a Nebraska attorney and the trustee of the Rose M. Luebbert 

Irrevocable Trust No. 1 for the Benefit of the Rose M. Luebbert Family, a trust 

established by his former wife Rose, who died in 2010. On paper, this is a 

dispute between Luebbert, as trustee of the trust, and Maple Family, an Indiana 

limited liability company. Ultimately, though, it is a dispute between Luebbert 

and the Indiana woman he married after Rose died—Marie Elizabeth Leno—

who is a member and manager of Maple Family.

[3] Luebbert began communicating with Leno through an online dating service in 

March 2011. Things moved quickly, and in September 2011, Luebbert and 
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Leno married in Mexico, where Leno owned real estate in the city of Zapopan. 

Things unraveled even more quickly, and Leno filed for divorce in Mexico in 

early 2012. 

[4] However, while the divorce was pending, there were attempts at reconciliation,

and Luebbert remained in Mexico and continued to handle certain “business 

affairs” for Leno. Tr. p. 31. As relevant here, during the summer of 2012 

Luebbert was involved in creating Maple Family. He prepared the articles of 

organization and operating agreement for the company, identifying

Corporation Service Company (CSC) as the registered agent in both 

documents. Luebbert also prepared deeds by which Leno would transfer 

ownership of her Carmel house from herself to Maple Family. Leno executed 

all the documents on September 4, 2012.

[5] Later in 2012, Luebbert was involved in preparing the paperwork making CSC 

the registered agent for Maple Family. On December 13, 2012, Luebbert wrote 

the following in an email to CSC: “I neglected to sign the agreement you sent in 

August. I need to take care of this, so if you could please send me a new 

replacement agreement, I will promptly have it signed and returned to you.” 

Ex. 6. The same day, CSC sent Luebbert the form he had requested and asked 

if it should “still be using the address in Mexico for all correspondence?” Id. 

Leno signed the form that day, and Luebbert emailed it back to CSC with a 

message that stated, in part: “My wife, Marie Elizabeth Leno, is the Manager of 

the LLC and she signed the Agreement. . . . The Zapopan, JAL Mexico address 
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remains the mailing address of the LLC.” Id. Leno was not copied on any of 

these emails. 

[6] The next day, December 14, CSC sent a “Welcome to CSC” email to Luebbert 

(but not Leno). Ex. 7. Under the heading “Confirm Your Information” was 

the following instruction: “Please review the following information and let us 

know if changes are required.” Id. Luebbert’s name, phone number, and email 

address were then listed, with no information for Leno. Luebbert did not tell 

CSC that the information was incorrect. 

[7] Luebbert and Leno failed to reconcile, and the divorce was finalized in June 

2013. Luebbert left Mexico in November 2013. On December 10, 2013, he 

was on the verge of filing his Nebraska lawsuit against Maple Family and 

Leno—the lawsuit that gave rise to this appeal—when a CSC representative

sent him an email about an open invoice on Maple Family’s account. Luebbert 

responded as follows: “Maple Family, LLC is owned and operated by Liz Leno 

and I have nothing further to do with her LLC. I have been forwarding your emails to her. Her e-mail is noted above.” Ex. 12. The printed version of the 

email shows that Luebbert sent a copy to “Liz Leno.” Id. The same day, the 

CSC representative responded “Thank you” to Luebbert (but not Leno). Ex. 

13. Two days later, however, the same CSC representative sent another 

unpaid-invoice email to Luebbert (but not Leno). Luebbert responded to CSC 

with a message directed at Leno: “Liz, Please take care of this. It is for your 

LLC.” Ex. 14. Again, the printed version of the email shows that a copy was 

sent to “Liz Leno.” Id. After a few minutes, Luebbert sent Leno (but not CSC)
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another message: “Also just so you know, I going [sic] to block all future email 

messages from CSC as junk mail, so I am going to stop sending you their 

messages.” Ex. 15. Once again, the printed version of the email shows that a 

copy was sent to “Liz Leno.” Id. 

[8] Five days later, on December 17, 2013, Luebbert filed a lawsuit against Maple 

Family, and Leno individually, in Nebraska state court. Luebbert alleged, in 

pertinent part, that: 

• he and Leno, just before they got married, “orally agreed 

that they would establish a new real estate investment 

partnership which would be capitalized by the Luebbert 

Trust and Leno[.]” 

• he and Leno agreed that Luebbert would sell a house the 

Luebbert Trust owned in Omaha, that Leno would sell her 

house in Carmel, and that “the Luebbert Trust and Leno 

would collectively invest the proceeds therefrom in new 

income producing real estate investments, the income 

from which would be shared in accordance with their 

capital contributions” to the partnership. 

• in reliance on the parties’ agreement, the Luebbert Trust 

borrowed against and eventually sold the Omaha house 

and made the proceeds, along with other cash, available to 

the partnership for investment purposes, “including the 

renovation of (i) the Indiana Home, and (ii) the Mexican 

Properties.”

• the Luebbert Trust had invested in excess of $250,000 into 

the partnership and as a result the Carmel home and the 
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Mexican properties had been “substantially renovated to 

the financial benefit of Leno and Maple Family.”

• Leno and Maple Family breached the partnership 

agreement by (1) spending “a substantial amount of the 

cash and sale proceeds of the Luebbert Trust” for their 

own benefit instead of being invested for the benefit of the 

partnership and (2) disavowing the existence of the 

partnership and indicating their intent to retain the 

proceeds of the sale of the Carmel house if such a sale 

occurs.

Ex. 17. Luebbert requested a judgment against Leno and Maple Family in the 

amount of $250,357.19. 

[9] On December 20, 2013, Luebbert sent the summons and complaint to “Maple 

Family, LLC c/o Corporation Service Co.” at CSC’s Indianapolis address via 

certified mail. Ex. 16. The record does not indicate what action CSC took, if 

any, after receiving the documents. Luebbert’s attorney later told the Nebraska 

court that he attempted to serve Leno individually via certified mail (he did not 

say what address he used) but that “it came back unanswered.” Ex. 18. 

Neither Maple Family nor Leno responded to Luebbert’s complaint, and 

Luebbert moved for a default judgment against Maple Family only. The 

Nebraska court held a hearing on the motion on March 20, 2014. The same 

day, the court issued a default judgment in favor of Luebbert and against Maple 

Family in the amount requested by Luebbert—$250,357.19—stating that Maple 

Family “was properly served with a copy of the Complaint and Summons 

through its Registered Agent on 12/20/13.” Ex. 19.
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[10] Nebraska judgment in hand, Luebbert then came to Indiana and, pursuant to 

the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, Ind. Code ch. 34-54-11,

initiated an action against Maple Family in Hamilton County (where Maple 

Family owns the house formerly owned by Leno personally). However, when 

Luebbert asked the court for a writ of execution, Maple Family objected, 

claiming that the Nebraska judgment is “void.” Appellee’s App. Vol. II pp. 

121-23. Specifically, Maple Family asserted that sending the summons and 

complaint to CSC was not, under the circumstances, “reasonably calculated” to 

inform Maple Family of the Nebraska proceeding and that therefore the 

Nebraska court never acquired personal jurisdiction over Maple Family. Id.1

[11] The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on the matter over two days in 

March 2018. Regarding the creation of Maple Family, Leno acknowledged 

signing the necessary documents but testified that she “didn’t want to form an 

LLC” because she “didn’t have a clue what was an LLC” and that Luebbert 

“ma[d]e” her establish Maple Family. Tr. pp. 141, 154. She testified that 

Luebbert convinced her to sign the deeds transferring her house to Maple 

Family by telling her “that everything will go wrong with my house because we 

were living in Mexico.” Id. at 141. She added that Luebbert told her that he 

was “going to take care of the LLC . . . [a]s a good intention.” Id. at 158.

 

1 Maple Family also argued that it had no contacts with Nebraska and that the Nebraska court lacked 

personal jurisdiction over the company for that reason as well. The trial court expressly declined to reach 

that issue in its order, having already found deficient service of process. Because we affirm the trial court’s

service-of-process ruling, we likewise do not address Maple Family’s contacts, or lack thereof, with Nebraska.
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[12] Regarding CSC, Leno testified that she “never had a relationship” with the 

company, id. at 159, and that Luebbert “was the responsible [sic] with CSC,” id.

at 160. Leno repeatedly testified that she had no contact with CSC, at least not 

knowingly. Id. at 140, 174. She acknowledged that she called CSC in August 

2012 but explained, “Mr. Luebbert asked me to call this 1-800 number as a 

favor for him and asked for a quote. . . . I didn’t know who I was contacting.” 

Id. at 140-41. She also acknowledged receiving a follow-up email from CSC but 

said that she “didn’t know what it was for” and that she forwarded it to Mr. 

Luebbert “because he request me [sic].” Id. at 142. Leno was asked, “Did 

[Luebbert] ever tell you that you needed to make sure you were in contact with 

CSC now that you and he had separated?” Id. at 134. She answered, “Never.” 

Id. She was asked, “Did CSC send you any of the documents addressed to 

you?” Id. She answered, “Never.” Id. She also testified that she “receive[d] 

documents from CSC addressed to Mr. Luebbert occasionally” but that she did 

not open them because “[t]hey were to Mr. Luebbert and he always told me 

never to open anything that was his.” Id. 

[13] She testified that she had three email addresses—one that started with “lizleno” 

and two that started with “iluvulord.” She explained that she had the “lizleno” 

address set up so that anything from Luebbert would go to spam, that Luebbert 

knew this and knew to use one of the “iluvulord” addresses if he wanted to get 

in touch with her, but that he nonetheless used the “lizleno” address when he 

sent her the emails about CSC (the emails sent to “Liz Leno”) in December 

2013, days before he filed suit in Nebraska. When asked specifically about the 
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email on which Luebbert included her on December 10, 2013—the email that 

said “Maple Family, LLC is owned and operated by Liz Leno and I have 

nothing further to do with her LLC. I have been forwarding your emails to her. 

Her e-mail is noted above.”—Leno testified that it was sent to “the Liz Leno email,” that it “went into trash,” that it “went to s[p]am,” that “[Luebbert] 

knows that,” that it “was not in my inbox,” and that “I never read that e-mail.” 

Id. at 149. She added that Luebbert “knows this e-mail for things like that went 

to spam” and that “he intended to do this e-mail [sic] because he knew it went 

to spam.” Id.2

[14] After the hearing, the trial court issued a written order in favor of Maple 

Family. The court concluded:

Service upon CSC, as [Maple Family’s] registered agent, was not 

a proper and effective service of process. [Luebbert] established a 

service of process which was not reasonably calculated to provide 

[Maple Family] with notice of the Nebraska litigation and in fact 

was purposely calculated so that [Leno] and/or [Maple Family]

would not receive notice of the pending litigation.

Appellant’s App. Vol. II p. 19. As such, the court denied Luebbert’s request for 

a writ of execution. 

 

2 Notably, there is evidence in the record that when Luebbert sent Leno emails of a personal nature, he sent 

them to all three of Leno’s addresses. See Exs. 8A, 10A, 11A.
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[15] Luebbert now appeals.3 

Discussion and Decision

[16] Luebbert contends that the trial court erred by finding the Nebraska judgment 

to be invalid. When an Indiana court is asked to determine the validity of a 

judgment from another state, it applies the law of that state. Troxel v. Ward, 111 

N.E.3d 1029, 1033 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018). The principle of Nebraska law at issue 

here is that service of process is effective if it is “reasonably calculated to apprise 

interested parties of the pendency of the action and to afford them the 

opportunity to present their objections.” Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. v. 

Lehmann, 23 Neb. App. 292, 302, 869 N.W.2d 917, 924 (2015). The gist of 

Luebbert’s appeal is that the trial court misinterpreted this principle. We review 

questions of law de novo. State v. Neff, 117 N.E.3d 1263, 1267 (Ind. 2019).

 

3 Luebbert has moved to strike extensive passages from Maple Family’s brief. With the exception of one

completely baseless claim by Maple Family—that Luebbert has “lost his license to practice law in Nebraska,” 

Appellee’s Br. p. 22—we have denied Luebbert’s motion in a separate order. To the extent Luebbert argues 

that Maple Family relies on matters that were not admitted into evidence at the March 2018 hearing, his 

motion is moot; we have restricted our review to the testimony and exhibits admitted into evidence at that

hearing.

That said, some observations about Maple Family’s brief are in order. First, Maple Family’s citations to the 

appellant’s appendix are to a version of the appendix that Luebbert tendered to our clerk’s office on January 

4, 2019, but that was rejected for filing because of a technical defect. Luebbert filed a corrected appendix on 

January 11, and that is the appendix that Maple Family should have cited in its brief. Second, Maple 

Family’s citations to the transcript are to a transcript that Luebbert had produced at the trial-court level for 

purposes of a motion to correct error. A different transcript with different pagination was created for 

purposes of appeal, and that is the transcript Maple Family should have cited in its brief. These entirely 

avoidable errors significantly hindered our review of Maple Family’s contentions on appeal. We also note

that Maple Family’s brief includes certain factual assertions that are not supported by any citation at all, 

including its claim that Luebbert has lost his Nebraska law license. Needless to say, this is a practice that 

Maple Family’s attorneys should avoid in future appeals. 
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[17] Luebbert argues that the quoted standard “does not require a plaintiff to 

guarantee actual notice was given but only that the summons and complaint 

were actually delivered in accord with some permitted service of process

procedure.” Appellant’s Br. p. 18. In other words, Luebbert takes the position 

that sending the summons and complaint to Maple Family’s registered agent 

via certified mail was, as a matter of law, “reasonably calculated to apprise 

Maple Family of the pendency of the Nebraska Litigation and to afford it the 

opportunity to present its objections.” Id. at 20. But that is plainly wrong, as 

Lehmann itself demonstrates. 

[18] In Lehmann, the court determined that the plaintiff’s certified-mail service 

satisfied the requirements of the relevant service-of-process statute, Nebraska 

Statute § 25-505.01, but it did not stop there. It stated, “Capital One complied 

with all of the requirements of § 25-505.01. The question now is whether the 

certified mail service was reasonably calculated to apprise Lehmann of the 

pendency of the action.” Lehmann, 23 Neb. App. at 302, 869 N.W.2d at 924

(emphasis added). The court then went on to analyze whether certified-mail 

service was sufficient under the particular circumstances of that case. There is 

no question, then, that a plaintiff’s chosen method of service can be declared

ineffective even if it is technically permissible under Nebraska’s service-ofprocess statutes.

[19] Alternatively, Luebbert argues that even if the Indiana trial court properly 

inquired beyond the fact that the summons and complaint were delivered to 

CSC, Maple Family did not present any evidence that CSC failed to notify it of 
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the Nebraska filing. We disagree. As we already noted, Leno testified 

repeatedly that she had “no contact” with CSC, and when asked if CSC sent 

her “any of the documents addressed to you,” she answered, “Never.” The 

only reasonable inference from that testimony is that CSC never notified Maple 

Family/Leno of the Nebraska lawsuit. 

[20] Of course, the fact that a particular method of service fails to result in notice to 

a defendant does not necessarily mean that it was not reasonably calculated to 

do so. But Luebbert does not actually challenge the sufficiency of the evidence 

supporting the trial court’s ultimate conclusion on that point—that Luebbert’s 

decision to mail the complaint to CSC was not reasonably calculated to put 

Maple Family on notice of the Nebraska litigation. And for good reason. 

Evidence was presented that (1) the only contact Leno ever had with CSC was 

done at the direction of Luebbert, (2) Luebbert did not correct CSC when it 

indicated that it would be using his name, phone number, and email address for 

Maple Family, (3) Luebbert knew that Leno had set up her “lizleno” email 

address so that anything from Luebbert would go to spam, but Luebbert 

nonetheless chose to use that address to send Leno information about CSC, and 

(4) CSC was still treating Luebbert as its Maple Family contact a few days 

before he sued Maple Family in Nebraska.4 Given this evidence, the trial court 

 

4

In fact, evidence was presented that CSC was still contacting Luebbert in May 2014, after he had already 

secured the default judgment against Maple Family.
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was fully justified in ruling that service on CSC was not reasonably calculated 

to notify Maple Family of the Nebraska lawsuit.5 

[21] Affirmed.

Mathias, J., and Crone, J., concur.

 

5

In his reply brief, Luebbert makes an argument that service on CSC was sufficient even if it was not

reasonably calculated to put Maple Family on notice. Appellant’s Reply Br. pp. 20-23. He waived this 

argument by failing to include it in his opening brief. See U.S. Gypsum, Inc. v. Ind. Gas Co., 735 N.E.2d 790, 

797 n.5 (Ind. 2000) (“[A]n argument raised for the first time in a reply brief is waived.”).