Ohio Appeals Court revives inmate's challenge to foreclosure over improper service claims

A foreclosure case that appeared to be over is back in court after an Ohio appeals court raised questions about whether the property owner had been properly notified of the original proceedings. The homeowner, who is serving time for the murder of his wife, lost his Columbus home to a foreclosure initiated by the bank while he was behind bars.

But the case resurfaced when a separate dispute erupted over who would get the money after the sheriff's sale produced more than $61,000 in surplus proceeds. The Tenth District Court of Appeals in Ohio on Nov.

10, 2026, reversed a lower court’s denial of a motion to reconsider a foreclosure judgment. The court ruled that the owner's later participation in the proceedings could not be grounds for an automatic finding that he had been properly served in the course of the proceedings.Bank moves forward with foreclosure while homeowner is in jailThe property, located at Noe Bixby Road in Columbus, belonged to Mamadou Diallo, according to the Ohio Court of Appeals, Tenth District.