Service by Publication: When you don't know where the Defendant lives - Jonathan M. Stanley
There are many times that a person wants to initiate a lawsuit but they do not have the ability to contact or locate the other people that will be involved in the lawsuit. Perhaps the person has moved since you last spoke with them or perhaps they don’t want you to know where they now reside in an attempt to avoid the lawsuit. Regardless, when you file a lawsuit, the Court is going to require you to serve your initial Complaint upon the other Party or Parties. If you have not properly served the other participant in the lawsuit, the Court will not allow your action to move forward until service as been completed or “perfected”. Service is commonly completed in one of three prescribed ways:
Certified Mail - Under this method of service, the documents are mailed out by the Clerk of Courts. When the Party receives the documents, they are asked to sign to confirm receipt of the documents. A copy of this signed document is then sent back to the Court to show that service is complete. However, this method of service will not be successful if you do not know where the other Party lives or if the other Party refuses to sign for the documents.
Sheriff - Under this method of service, the documents are provided to the county sheriff along with the home or work address of the person to be served. The sheriff will then personally hand the documents to the Party to complete service and then provide documentation to the Court which shows that service has been completed. Again, this method of service will not be successful if you do not know where to locate the other Party.
Process Server - A process server is a person appointed by the Court to deliver documents to a recipient. In Ohio, process servers are not required to be licensed. Anyone who is over 18 and not a party to the case can be appointed as a process server. Once the process server has been appointed by the Court, they will be provided with copies of the documents to serve on the other Party. Much like sheriff service or certified mail, a process server cannot serve a Party if you do not know where the Party lives or works.
Fortunately, Ohio Courts have a solution in situations where one or all of the other methods of service have failed. If you have attempted to use one of the other types of service and been unsuccessful, you can perfect service using a process known as “Service By Publication”. You will need to file an affidavit with the Clerk of Courts in the county where the lawsuit is filed which states the following:
That service of summons cannot be made because the residence of the defendant is unknown to the affiant;
All efforts made on behalf of the plaintiff to ascertain the defendant’s residence; and
That the residence of the defendant cannot be ascertained with reasonable diligence.
Once that affidavit has been processed by the Clerk, the Clerk will typically prepare a Notice to run in a “newspaper of general circulation” in the county where the Complaint is filed. That Notice needs to run for six consecutive weeks in order for service to be perfected. Once the Notice has run for the required amount of time, service of the complaint will be considered perfected and you may move forward with your lawsuit.
This Article contains only a very brief overview of of the various service types. Your specific County may have slightly different requirements for serving defendants. Your case may also have unique facts which require additional steps to be taken. Please contact our office if you would like to discuss the specifics of your individual situation.
- Jonathan M. Stanley, Esq.