Ohio Code 2744.06 – Satisfying a judgment against political subdivision
(A) Real or personal property, and moneys, accounts, deposits, or investments of a political subdivision are not subject to execution, judicial sale, garnishment, or attachment to satisfy a judgment rendered against a political subdivision in a civil action to recover damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property caused by an act or omission of the political subdivision or any of its employees in connection with a governmental or proprietary function. Those judgments shall be paid from funds of the political subdivisions that have been appropriated for that purpose, but, if sufficient funds are not currently appropriated for the payment of judgments, the fiscal officer of a political subdivision shall certify the amount of any unpaid judgments to the taxing authority of the political subdivision for inclusion in the next succeeding budget and annual appropriation measure and payment in the next succeeding fiscal year as provided by section 5705.08 of the Revised Code, unless any judgment is to be paid from the proceeds of bonds issued pursuant to section 133.14 of the Revised Code or pursuant to annual installments authorized by division (B) or (C) of this section.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2744.06
- Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- 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
(B)(1)(a) As used in this division, “the actual loss of the person who is awarded the damages” includes all of the following:
(i) All wages, salaries, or other compensation lost by the person injured as a result of the injury, as of the date of the judgment;
(ii) All expenditures of the person injured or of another person on behalf of the person injured for medical care or treatment, for rehabilitation services, or for other care, treatment, services, products, or accommodations that were necessary because of the injury;
(iii) All expenditures of a person whose property was injured or destroyed or of another person on behalf of the person whose property was injured or destroyed in order to repair or replace the property that was injured or destroyed;
(iv) All expenditures of the person injured or whose property was injured or destroyed or of another person on behalf of the person injured or whose property was injured or destroyed in relation to the actual preparation or presentation of the person’s claim;
(v) Any other expenditures of the person injured or whose property was injured or destroyed or of another person on behalf of the person injured or whose property was injured or destroyed that the court determines represent an actual loss experienced because of the personal or property injury or property loss.
(b) As used in this division, “the actual loss of the person who is awarded the damages” does not include any of the following:
(i) Wages, salaries, or other compensation lost by the person injured as a result of the injury, that are future expected earnings of that person;
(ii) Expenditures to be incurred in the future, as determined by the court, by the person injured or by another person on behalf of the person injured for medical care or treatment, for rehabilitation services, or for other care, treatment, services, products, or accommodations that will be necessary because of the injury;
(iii) Any fees paid or owed to an attorney for any services rendered in relation to a personal or property injury or property loss;
(iv) Any damages awarded for pain and suffering, for the loss of society, consortium, companionship, care, assistance, attention, protection, advice, guidance, counsel, instruction, training, or education of the person injured, for mental anguish, or for any other intangible loss.
(2) Except as specifically provided to the contrary in this division, a court that renders a judgment against a political subdivision as described in division (A) of this section and that is not in favor of the state may authorize the political subdivision, upon the motion of the political subdivision, to pay the judgment or a specified portion of the judgment in annual installments over a period not to exceed ten years, subject to the payment of interest at the rate specified in division (A) of section 1343.03 of the Revised Code. A court shall not authorize the payment in installments under this division of any portion of a judgment or entire judgment that represents the actual loss of the person who is awarded the damages.
Additionally, a court shall not authorize the payment in installments under this division of any portion of a judgment or entire judgment that does not represent the actual loss of the person who is awarded the damages unless the court, after balancing the interests of the political subdivision and of the person in whose favor the judgment was rendered, determines that installment payments would be appropriate under the circumstances and would not be unjust to the person in whose favor the judgment was rendered. If a court makes that determination, it shall fix the amount of the installment payments in a manner that achieves for the person in whose favor the judgment was rendered, the same economic result over the period as that person would have received if the judgment or portion of the judgment subject to the installment payments had been paid in a lump sum payment.
(C) At the option of a political subdivision, a judgment as described in division (A) of this section and that is rendered in favor of the state may be paid in equal annual installments over a period not to exceed ten years, without the payment of interest.