Ohio Code 2969.12 – Administration and distribution of crime victims recovery fund by clerk of court of claims
(A) The clerk of the court of claims shall administer the crime victims recovery fund and shall maintain in the fund in the name of each offender a separate account for money received, or money received from the sale or other disposition of property, pursuant to section 2929.32 of the Revised Code in connection with that offender. The clerk shall distribute the money in that separate account in accordance with division (C) of this section.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2969.12
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
(B) Notwithstanding a contrary provision of any section of the Revised Code that deals with the limitation of actions, a victim of an offense committed by an offender in whose name a separate account is maintained in the crime victims recovery fund may bring a civil action against the offender or the representatives of the offender at any time within three years after the establishment of the separate account.
In order to recover from a separate account maintained in the fund in the name of an offender, a victim of that offender shall do all of the following:
(1) Within the three-year period or, if the action was initiated before the separate account was established, within ninety days after the separate account is established, notify the clerk of the court of claims that a civil action has been brought against the offender or the representatives of the offender;
(2) Notify the clerk of the court of claims of the entry of any judgment in the civil action;
(3) Within ninety days after the judgment in the civil action is final or, if the judgment was obtained before the separate account was established, within ninety days after the separate account is established, request the clerk of the court of claims to pay from the separate account the judgment that the victim is awarded in the civil action.
If a civil action is brought against an offender or the representatives of the offender after the expiration of the statute of limitations that would apply to the civil action but for this division, the court shall state in a judgment in favor of the victim that the judgment may be enforced only against the separate account maintained in the name of that offender in the crime victims recovery fund.
(C)(1) The clerk of the court of claims shall not make a payment from the separate account maintained in the name of an offender in the crime victims recovery fund to a victim of the offender until the expiration of the later of the following periods:
(a) The expiration of three years after the establishment of the separate account, provided that no action of which the clerk was notified under division (B)(1) of this section is pending;
(b) If three years has elapsed since the establishment of the separate account and if one or more actions of which the clerk was notified under division (B)(1) of this section is pending at the expiration of that three-year period, the date of the final disposition of the last of those pending actions.
(2) Upon the expiration of the applicable period of time set forth in division (C)(1) of this section, the clerk of the court of claims shall make payments from the separate account maintained in the name of the offender in the crime victims recovery fund to the victims of the offender who obtained a judgment against the offender or the representatives of the offender for damages resulting from the offense committed by the offender. The payments shall be made as provided in this division.
When a separate account is maintained in the name of an offender in the crime victims recovery fund, the clerk of the court of claims shall determine on the second day of January and the first day of April, July, and October of each year the amount of money in that separate account. After the expiration of the applicable period of time set forth in division (C)(1) of this section, the clerk shall pay from that separate account any judgment for which a victim of that offender has requested payment pursuant to division (B)(3) of this section and has requested payment prior to the date of the most recent quarterly determination described in this division. If at a time that payments would be made from that separate account there are insufficient funds in that separate account to pay all of the applicable judgments against the offender or the representatives of the offender, the clerk of the court of claims shall pay the judgments on a pro rata basis.