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On March 16, 2021, Governor DeWine signed into law S.B. 13 which shortens Ohio’s statute of limitations for filing lawsuits based on breach of contract.  A statute of limitation is the time period within which a party must file a lawsuit before its claim expires as a matter of law.

Specifically, the new law reduces the statute of limitations for breaches of written contracts from eight years to six (R.C. 2305.06); and reduces the statute of limitations for breaches of oral contracts from six years to four (R.C. 2305.07).  This change in law follows a 2012 amendment which reduced the statute of limitations for breach of written contract claims from fifteen years to eight.  The new law is set to take effect as of June 14, 2021.

Despite the change in Ohio law reducing the statutory time period to file a breach of contract claim, it is important for parties to know and understand the terms of their own contracts which may already contain language limiting the time period within which to file a claim.  If the parties’ contract reduces the time for filing a claim to something less than the statutory time period, the shorter contractual limitation will often control.