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Trial lawyers warn shortening contract statutes could harm small businesses
Summary
An opponent told the committee that Senate Bill 157 would reduce written‑contract limitations from six to three years and oral contracts from four to two, a change he said would extinguish valid claims by small businesses and increase rushed litigation.
Senate Bill 157, taken up for its third hearing, drew opponent testimony from Matthew Wilson of Meyer, Wilson & Warning on behalf of the Ohio Association for Justice. Wilson said the bill would shorten the statute of limitations for breach‑of‑contract claims — reducing written contract claims from six years to three and oral contracts from four to two — and that the change would unfairly burden small businesses that lack the resources to investigate and timely file complex claims.
Wilson described examples from his practice where breach claims required lengthy discovery and only surfaced after several years; he argued decreasing the limitations period would force plaintiffs to ‘‘rush to file suit’’ and could clog courts with weaker litigation or push plaintiffs into alternate tort claims. He urged the committee to decline to support the bill, citing comparators in neighboring states and recent legislative reductions that already shortened Ohio’s limitations period in prior years.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about written and oral deadlines; Wilson reiterated he believed the current limitations (6 years written, 4 years oral) better protect small businesses and that the proposed reductions are ‘‘out of step’’ with surrounding states.
