COVID-19 Paused Ohio's Injury Deadlines: How H.B. 197 Tolling Works

Published March 31, 2020 · New Laws

If you were hurt in a crash or a fall in the spring of 2018, your two-year deadline to file a lawsuit may be only weeks away, and right now you may not be able to get to a lawyer's office, a doctor's office, or a courthouse. On Friday, Ohio's lawmakers did something about that. Here is what changed, how to count the time, and why this is not a reason to put your claim on hold.

What H.B. 197 does

On March 27, 2020, Governor DeWine signed Amended Substitute House Bill 197, a broad COVID-19 response bill passed by the 133rd General Assembly. Because it contains an emergency clause, it took effect immediately.

Section 22 of the bill is the part that matters for injured people. It provides that certain deadlines "set to expire between March 9, 2020, and July 30, 2020, shall be tolled." To "toll" a deadline means to pause the clock. The list includes:

• the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits, including the periods in Chapter 2305 of the Revised Code and any other provision of the Revised Code that applies to the claim (Section 22(A)(1)(b));
• the time within which a party must be served; and
• a catch-all for any other criminal, civil, or administrative time limitation or deadline under the Revised Code (Section 22(A)(10)).

The tolling reaches back to March 9, 2020, the day the Governor declared a state of emergency in Executive Order 2020-01D. It ends on the date the emergency ends or July 30, 2020, "whichever is sooner." No one knows yet which of those dates will come first.

The Supreme Court's matching order

The same day, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued its own order, cited as 2020-Ohio-1166. The legislature cannot change deadlines set by court rules, so the Court did it: time requirements in its rules, including the Civil Rules and the Appellate Rules, that are set to expire during the emergency period are tolled, retroactive to March 9 and ending on the same "emergency ends or July 30" date. The order also lets courts allow appearances and service by technology, and lets individual judges set specific deadlines in a case when something needs immediate attention.

How to count the days

Think of tolling as a pause button pressed on March 9.

Say you were injured in a crash on April 20, 2018. Ohio's general limitations period for bodily injury, in R.C. 2305.10(A), is two years, so your deadline would have been April 20, 2020, which falls inside the window. On March 9, 2020, you had 42 days left. Those 42 days are frozen. When the tolling period ends, whether that turns out to be the end of the emergency or July 30, the clock starts again, and you will have 42 days from that date.

Three cautions:

1. Look closely at your own deadline. By its words, Section 22 applies to deadlines "set to expire" between March 9 and July 30, 2020. If your deadline falls after July 30, for example a crash in the fall of 2018, do not count on getting any extra time. Plan as though your original date still stands.

2. The end date is a moving target. If the emergency ends earlier than July 30, tolling ends with it. Anyone who calculates a new deadline today is calculating from an end date nobody can predict. The safe course is to file well inside the original deadline whenever possible.

3. Not every deadline is a statute. H.B. 197 speaks to deadlines "under the Revised Code." Some of the most important deadlines in an injury case are written into insurance contracts. Ohio law, R.C. 3937.18(H), lets an auto policy require that an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim be brought within three years of the crash, a trap I wrote about back in 2011. Do not assume a deadline in your policy has been paused.

Medical claims need special care

Medical-malpractice claims run on a much shorter clock. Under R.C. 2305.113, a medical claim generally must be filed within one year after it accrues, with a possible 180-day extension if written notice is sent to the provider before the year runs out, and there is a four-year outer limit for most claims measured from the act or omission itself. Different rules within that statute work differently, and how the new tolling interacts with each of them is not something to guess about. If you believe a doctor or hospital caused harm in the last few years, call now rather than counting on the pause.

What has not changed

The emergency changes the calendar. It does not change your rights.

• The other driver's insurance company is still open, still adjusting claims, and may see this moment as an opportunity to close files cheaply.
• Evidence still disappears on its usual schedule. Surveillance video is still overwritten, and totaled vehicles are still sold for salvage.
• The fundamentals of proving a claim are the same: medical records, consistent treatment, documented losses.

Our guide chapter on deadlines and the timeline of an Ohio injury case explains the ordinary deadlines that the tolling builds on. For the history behind the basic rule, see my 2010 post on Ohio's two-year deadline.

What this means for you

• Write down your injury date and your normal deadline. If it falls between March 9 and July 30, 2020, it is paused, but only until the emergency ends or July 30, whichever comes first.
• If your deadline falls later, treat it as unchanged.
• Find your auto policy and check for any contractual deadline.
• Do not wait for courts to reopen fully to talk to a lawyer. Our guide explains why talking to a lawyer early matters, and it matters more when the rules are shifting week to week.

You can read more about the kinds of cases we handle on our personal injury page.