As December and all the holiday hustle and bustle is upon us, it is good time to remember that with all the familial or spiritual obligations, is easy to procrastinate. Sometimes, those lapses can be quite costly. As if to provide a reminder beacon, the Court of Appeals for the Second District upheld a default judgment totaling nearly $90,000 against a bar owner after the corporation failed to timely respond to a complaint filed against it.
In that case, the plaintiff was injured in a barroom brawl. He originally filed a lawsuit in 2010. The defendants filed answers and participated in the earlier case, but the plaintiff dismissed the original filing before trial in November 2011. In November 2012, the plaintiff re-filed the action under the saving statute. This time, the defendants failed to respond. The defendants claimed that the mail was not sent to the corporations' usual place of business, although an employee signed for the certified mailing in early December 2011. The trial court granted default judgment in March, 2012. The defendants tried to file an appeal from that decision, however according to the appellate court, the appeal was untimely. It was filed on the 31st day after the default judgment was entered, a day late. The defendants took no further action until the end of June 2013, over a year after the default judgment was entered, when the defendants filed a motion for relief from the default judgment.
That was the problem. The Ohio Civil Rules allow parties to seek relief from final judgments within a year of the decision. In this case, the defendants filed their motion outside that window, and did not advance any claims that other reasons justified the trial court to grant relief under the catch-all exception to Civ.R. 60(B), which does not have set time limit. It was a fairly straight forward decision for the appellate court, in light of the circumstances within which the defendants put themselves. Nevertheless, it stands as a good reminder that even during the chaos that is the holiday season, some things should not be put off until later. Once that cycle begins, especially with court cases, it becomes more difficult to catch up.
If facing a lawsuit, it cannot be stressed enough to seek legal advice as soon as possible after receiving a complaint. On the flip side, as attorneys, sometimes we need to remind clients of the need to be vigilant with respect to pending actions, and if representing corporate clients, to ensure they have procedures in place for receiving complaints. As the Second District decision reminds us, it is better to stay ahead of the problems than try to undo what is already done.
