The Ohio Legislature is busy reviewing and revising the statute of limitations for contracts. Again. Service providers and lenders, listen up. R.C. 2305.06, provided a fifteen (15) year statute of limitations to bring a civil action to enforce the rights of a written contract, but this law was changed by the 129th General Assembly when it passed S.B. 224 in 2012.
S.B. 224 shortened the statute of limitations for a written contract from fifteen (15) years to just eight (8) years. R.C. 2305.06 now provides that, “[A]n action upon a specialty or an agreement, contract, or promise in writing shall be brought within eight years after the cause of action accrued.”
Now, the Ohio Legislature is looking to change it again. The 133rd General Assembly is currently passing around drafts to revise the statute of limitations for both written and unwritten contracts. R.C. 2305.07 currently provides a six year statute of limitation from the point of default. The draft language I’ve seen, the new law would shorten this period to just three years.
To make sure your not caught sleeping on your rights, it will be increasingly important to do a timely review of outstanding legal obligations to insure actions are commenced within the appropriate time-frame.
