On Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, the Ohio Supreme Court handed a split decision to a Hamilton County homebuyer. The justices said he can collect a $250 statutory penalty over a late mortgage release, but they also blocked his effort to pursue that same penalty for an entire class of borrowers affected in 2020. In a 6-1 ruling, the court focused on a 2023 change to Ohio’s mortgage-recording law that singles out calendar-year 2020 and bars classwide recovery. The decision preserves individual remedies while shutting down the pandemic-era class action that had been certified last year.
What the Court Held
Writing for the majority, Justice Daniel R. Hawkins concluded that the General Assembly created a legal right to the $250 penalty and that the April 2023 amendment restricts class-action recovery for recording delays that occurred in 2020, without cutting off individual lawsuits. The court affirmed the portion of the First District Court of Appeals’ ruling that allows homeowner Samuel Voss to recover the $250 penalty, but it reversed the certification of the proposed class and ordered the class decertified.
The opinion was joined by Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices Patrick F. Fischer, R. Patrick DeWine, Jennifer Brunner and Megan E. Shanahan. Judge Jill Flagg Lanzinger concurred in part and dissented in part. The case is docket number 2024-0257 and was released as Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-531, as reported by Court News Ohio.
The 2023 Change That Mattered
Under Ohio Revised Code § 5301.36, a mortgagee has 90 days after a mortgage is satisfied to record a release, and a failure to do so triggers a $250 damages award. In April 2023 the General Assembly amended the statute to create a narrow exception: for failures that occurred in calendar year 2020, that $250 in damages cannot be recovered in a class action. Individual claims and other remedies under the statute remain available.
How Voss’ Case Unfolded
Voss purchased a home whose mortgage satisfaction should have been recorded by May 5, 2020. Instead, the lender’s release did not appear in the county recorder’s office until May 27, 2020, a 22-day delay. Voss filed suit in August 2020.
The trial court certified a class in February 2023, and the First District Court of Appeals initially affirmed that certification. The Ohio Supreme Court then accepted the case on appeal, setting the stage for Thursday’s ruling. The timeline of the case and the lower court decisions are outlined in the First District’s opinion, according to Justia.
Why the Split Matters
The majority held that applying the 2023 amendment to this case was a permissible retroactive change. The justices noted that the legislature clearly limited class-action recovery for 2020 delays and that no damages had yet been awarded to a class before the amendment took effect.
In her partial dissent, Judge Jill Flagg Lanzinger warned that the carve-out for 2020 class actions conflicts with the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure. She argued the provision has “no force and effect” and cautioned that allowing this kind of exception could invite lawmakers to sidestep the court’s rulemaking authority, as described by Court News Ohio.
What Homeowners Should Know
For homeowners whose lenders missed the 90-day recording window in 2020, the decision means relief is still on the table, but most will have to seek it one by one rather than as part of a large class. The statute continues to allow a mortgagor or current owner to recover the $250 penalty and to pursue other statutory remedies under Ohio Revised Code § 5301.36.
The ruling leaves space for attorneys to bring individual claims or to test other theories of harm, but it closes off the broad class mechanism for recording delays that occurred during 2020.
