Ohio Supreme Court, 1977

Lash v. Miller

Ohio Supreme Court · Decided May 4, 1977 · Brown, Celebrezze, Herbert, Loches, Neill, Sweeney

50 Ohio St. 2d 63; 362 N.E.2d 642; 4 Ohio Op. 3d 155; 1977 Ohio LEXIS 375

Cases that cite this one

38 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Moore v. Mount Carmel Health Sys. (Ohio Ct. App. 2018)
Shanahorn v. Sparks, Unpublished Decision (6-29-2000) (Ohio Ct. App. 2000)
Clark v. Medina General Hospital (Medina County Court of Common Pleas 1999)
Park v. Ambrose (Ohio Ct. App. 1993)
Sorrell v. Estate of Datko (Ohio Ct. App. 2001)
Fetterolf v. Hoffmann-Laroche, Inc. (Ohio Ct. App. 1995)
Fetterolf v. Hoffmann-Laroche, Inc. (Ohio Ct. App. 1995)
Gadd v. Estate of Lafferty (Ohio Ct. App. 2016)
Burgess v. Doe (Ohio Ct. App. 1996)
Pippin v. M.A. Hauser Enterprises, Inc. (Ohio Ct. App. 1996)
Davis v. Fox (Ohio Ct. App. 1990)
McAbee v. Merryman (Ohio Ct. App. 2013)
DiDomenico v.Valentino (Ohio Ct. App. 2012)
McCarty v. River Pines RV Report Condominium Ass'n (Clermont County Court of Common Pleas 2011)
Gliozzo v. Univ. Urologists of Cleveland, Unpublished Decision (4-6-2006) (Ohio Ct. App. 2006)
Newman v. Group One, Unpublished Decision (3-24-2005) (Ohio Ct. App. 2005)
Whitt v. Hayes, Unpublished Decision (5-6-2003) (Ohio Ct. App. 2003)
Blanton v. Alley, Unpublished Decision (3-18-2003) (Ohio Ct. App. 2003)
Smith v. Carter, Unpublished Decision (7-31-2002) (Ohio Ct. App. 2002)
Hull v. Lopez, Unpublished Decision (9-30-2002) (Ohio Ct. App. 2002)
Branscom v. Birtcher (Ohio Ct. App. 1988)
O.B. Corp. v. Cordell (Ohio Ct. App. 1988)
Harrell v. Guest (Ohio Ct. App. 1986)
Maryhew v. Yova (Ohio 1984)
Buckeye Union Insurance v. Regional Transit Authority (City of Cleveland Municipal Court 1983)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam.

The judgment of .the Court of Appeals is reversed.

Civ. R. 3(A) provides that “[a] civil action is commenced by filing a complaint with the court, if service is obtained within one year from such filing.” (Emphasis added.)

The first paragraph of the syllabus in Mason v. Waters (1966), 6 Ohio St. 2d 212, reads:

“Within the meaning of Section 2305.17, Revised Code [similar to Civ. R. 3(A)], as it read prior to amendment effective October 30, 1965, the filing of a petition and pre-cipe for the issuance of summons does not constitute the commencement of an action or an attempt to commence an action equivalent to its commencement, where there has been no effective service of summons. upon defendamt within. the time limit prescribed by that statute.” (Emphasis added.)

•This court stated further, at page 215, .that:

“Section 2305.17, supra, provides that an action shall be deemed commenced at the date of the summons which is served on defendant. This contemplates an effective- service of summons-,• which, in this case, was not obtained until September 26, 1963. Since there was no effective service prior to that date, no action was commenced, nor was there an attempt to commence an action equivalent to its commencement' within the meaning of Section 2305.17, supra. Kossuth v. Bear, 161 Ohio St. 378.” (Footnote omitted.) ■

The Court of Common Pleas was correct. The action *65herein was never commenced as to defendant Astley. Effective service of summons on the defendant is a necessary prerequisite to the commencement of a civil action. Civ. E. 3(A).

Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the judgment of the trial court in favor of Astley is reinstated.

Judgment reversed.

O’Neill, C. J., Herbert, Celebrezze, W. Brown, P. Brown, Sweeney and Loches, JJ., concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.