The Ohio General Assembly and Governor John Kasich have enacted Senate Bill 224, which went into effect on September 28, 2012. This bill reduces the statute of limitations for bringing claims on written contracts from 15 years to 8 years in Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 2305.06.

Under the new law, any claim on a written contract that first accrued on September 28, 2012 or later must be filed by September 28, 2020. As a matter of transition, Senate Bill 224 provides that any claim on a written contract that first accrued between September 28, 2005 and September 27, 2012 must be filed by September 28, 2020.

The original 15 years statute of limitations provision was enacted in Ohio in 1803. In passing this new legislation, the Ohio legislature sought to modernize the law while increasing judicial efficiency. The vast majority of states have a statute of limitations for written contracts well below 15 years. Furthermore, the sooner a claim on a written contract is filed, the fresher the parties’ memory will be for any ensuing litigation.