What happened: An Ohio appeals court restored GEICO’s $35,344.56 subrogation judgment after a trial court threw it out based on a motion with no sworn evidence.
Who’s involved: GEICO Advantage Insurance Company, recovering losses after a driver fled the scene of a crash.
What’s at stake: $35,344.56 and whether courts can undo judgments based on unsupported motions with no hearing.
Why it matters: Subrogation teams can cite this ruling when defendants try to unwind judgments without filing any sworn proof.
Where it stands: The appeals court vacated the trial court’s order on October 29, 2026, restoring GEICO’s judgment.
A $35,344.56 subrogation judgment vanished - not because new evidence surfaced, but because a trial court granted a motion with no evidence at all.
Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals vacated that order on October 29, 2026, ruling that the trial court erred when it threw out GEICO’s judgment based solely on unsworn claims, with no hearing.
The case traces back to a car accident. A driver crashed and fled the scene. GEICO covered its policyholder’s losses and went after the vehicle’s owner, arguing he was at fault for lending the car to that driver in the first place.
The vehicle owner answered the lawsuit on his own but then went silent. He never responded to GEICO’s written questions or formal requests asking him to admit or deny key facts. Under Ohio’s rules, that silence counts as agreement - putting him on the record as having negligently handed his vehicle to the driver who caused the crash.
GEICO asked the court to rule in its favor without a trial. No one objected. In July 2025, the court entered judgment for GEICO: $35,344.56.
The vehicle owner did not appeal. Five months later, through a newly hired lawyer, he asked the court to wipe the judgment under Ohio Civil Rule 60(B)(5), a broad provision that lets courts undo final rulings when justice requires it. But his motion was bare - no sworn statements, no supporting documents, nothing. The trial court granted it anyway, without a hearing.
GEICO appealed. The Eighth District sided with the insurer unanimously. Ohio law sets a clear bar for anyone trying to undo a final judgment: show a valid defense, point to a legal basis for relief, file on time, and back it all up with sworn evidence. Unsworn claims in the motion itself do not count.
“A court must overrule a motion to vacate where a movant fails to establish even one of the three requirements,” the appeals court wrote.
The ruling restores GEICO’s original $35,344.56 judgment and sends the case back for enforcement.
The decision is a practical marker for subrogation and claims teams: when a defendant ghosts discovery and loses, Ohio courts cannot hand back the judgment on a motion with nothing behind it.
The matters in this case were resolved by the court. This article is based on the appellate decision issued on October 29, 2026. No further proceedings were noted in the decision reviewed.
