Fifth Third Bank v. Ricci, 2021 Ohio 1648

Fifth Third Bank sued Joseph A. Ricci in April 2011; certified-mail service was returned unclaimed.
Bank then used a private process server and filed a return asserting out-of-state personal service in July 2011.
Ricci did not respond and the trial court entered a default judgment in October 2011.
Eight years later Ricci moved to vacate the default judgment, attaching an affidavit denying he was personally served and stating the return of service was impossible.
The bank asked for an evidentiary hearing; the trial court denied Ricci’s motion without a hearing.
The court of appeals reversed, holding the trial court erred by refusing to hold an evidentiary hearing; one of two appeals was dismissed as duplicative.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether service was proper and the default judgment valid	Service was effected by out-of-state personal service per the civil rules; the return of service creates a presumption of proper service	Ricci’s affidavit alleges operative facts showing he was not served; that rebuttal requires an evidentiary hearing to test credibility	Court held trial court erred in denying a hearing; remanded for further proceedings to assess credibility and service validity
Whether two appeals from same judgment could both proceed	(implicitly) both notices filed	Ricci filed two appeals from same order	Court dismissed one appeal (C-200237) as duplicative

Cincinnati Ins. v. Emge, 124 Ohio App.3d 61 (1st Dist. 1997) (default judgment entered without proper service is void; trial court has inherent power to vacate)
Altman v. Parker, 123 N.E.3d 382 (1st Dist. 2018) (where defendant files affidavit denying receipt of service, trial court must afford evidentiary hearing to assess credibility)