PHH Mortgage Corp. v. Prater

Summary

The Ohio Supreme Court held that constructive notice of a foreclosure sale posted on a sheriff's website is insufficient to satisfy due process when the interested party's address is known or easily ascertainable. A mailed instruction directing the party or attorney to monitor the website does not constitute actual notice of the sale's date, time, and location. The court reversed the judgment affirming the sale and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Constructive notice by publication through a sheriff's-office website is insufficient to satisfy due process when a party with a property interest in the foreclosure proceeding has an address that is known or easily ascertainable.
2. PHH's motion to set aside the sheriff's sale should have been granted because the website-based notice did not satisfy due process.

Questions Presented

1. Whether constructive notice of a foreclosure sheriff's sale through a sheriff's-office website satisfies due process when the interested party's address is known or easily ascertainable.
2. Whether PHH was entitled to set aside the sheriff's sale because it did not receive mailed notice of the sale's date, time, and location.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded