Article by Holly Olarczuk-Smith, Esq.
On August 21, 2025, in a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court Ohio ruled in Hunt v. Alderman, 2025-Ohio-2944, that when initiating a civil lawsuit by certified mail, the mailing must comply with service requirements of Civ.R. 4.1(A)(1)(a) and the due process requirement that service be “reasonably calculated to notify the defendant of the lawsuit[.]” Hunt at ¶1. Since service by certified mail to a defendant’s former residential address was not “‘reasonably calculated’ to reach him[,]” it was insufficient. Hunt at ¶ 25. Because plaintiffs never perfected service within one year, their action was not timely commenced under Civ.R. 3(A), and the Supreme Court affirmed the lower courts decisions dismissing the lawsuit for lack of proper service. Plaintiffs bear the burden of ensuring sufficient service regardless of whether the defendant eventually received actual notice. “[A] showing of prejudice and lack of actual knowledge have never been required for a challenge to service to be successful” because “a party’s receiving actual notice and actively participating in the litigation does not amount to a forfeiture of an insufficient-service-of-process argument[.]” Hunt at ¶ 26.