Ohio Code 2744.04 – Statute of limitations – demand for judgment for damages
(A) An action against a political subdivision to recover damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by any act or omission in connection with a governmental or proprietary function, whether brought as an original action, cross-claim, counterclaim, third-party claim, or claim for subrogation, shall be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues, or within any applicable shorter period of time for bringing the action provided by the Revised Code. The period of limitation contained in this division shall be tolled pursuant to section 2305.16 of the Revised Code. This division applies to actions brought against political subdivisions by all persons, governmental entities, and the state.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2744.04
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Employee: includes any elected or appointed official of a political subdivision. See Ohio Code 2744.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Political subdivision: includes , but is not limited to, a county hospital commission appointed under section 339. See Ohio Code 2744.01
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- proprietary function: includes , but is not limited to, the following:
(a) The operation of a hospital by one or more political subdivisions;
(b) The design, construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, maintenance, and operation of a public cemetery other than a township cemetery;
(c) The establishment, maintenance, and operation of a utility, including, but not limited to, a light, gas, power, or heat plant, a railroad, a busline or other transit company, an airport, and a municipal corporation water supply system;
(d) The maintenance, destruction, operation, and upkeep of a sewer system;
(e) The operation and control of a public stadium, auditorium, civic or social center, exhibition hall, arts and crafts center, band or orchestra, or off-street parking facility. See Ohio Code 2744.01
- State: means the state of Ohio, including, but not limited to, the general assembly, the supreme court, the offices of all elected state officers, and all departments, boards, offices, commissions, agencies, colleges and universities, institutions, and other instrumentalities of the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 2744.01
- subdivision: means a municipal corporation, township, county, school district, or other body corporate and politic responsible for governmental activities in a geographic area smaller than that of the state. See Ohio Code 2744.01
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(B) In the complaint filed in a civil action against a political subdivision or an employee of a political subdivision to recover damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by an act or omission in connection with a governmental or proprietary function, whether filed in an original action, cross-claim, counterclaim, third-party claim, or claim for subrogation, the complainant shall include a demand for a judgment for the damages that the judge in a nonjury trial or the jury in a jury trial finds that the complainant is entitled to be awarded, but shall not specify in that demand any monetary amount for damages sought.