Ohio Court of Appeals Requires Hearings be Held on Default Motions

While select Courts of Common Pleas in Ohio hold oral hearings on motions for default judgment, the majority of courts rule without hearing, often regardless of whether or not a borrower has appeared in an action. The Eleventh District Court of Appeals recently held in US Bank v. Smith that the failure to provide borrowers with notice of a hearing prior to judgment divested them of their opportunity to present their objections, thereby violating their right to due process. Rejecting existing case law on this topic that held to the contrary, the Eleventh District determined that “where a defendant makes an appearance and a plaintiff files a motion for default judgment, the trial court must set the matter for an oral or non-oral hearing before ruling on the motion to preserve the defendant’s right to due process.” 2020-Ohio-3328. As such, in cases where a defendant has appeared, no matter how informally, if the Court has not already adopted a practice of holding hearings on motions for default judgment, it would be a best practice to request a non-oral hearing be held prior to rendering judgment to prevent reversal on appeal.