Ohio Rev. Code § 2743.51 : — COURTS - GENERAL PROVISIONS - SPECIAL REMEDIESCOURT OF CLAIMS — Reparation award to victim of crime definitions

As used in sections 2743.51 to 2743.72 of the Revised Code:

(A) "Claimant" means both of the following categories of persons:

(1) Any of the following persons who claim an award of reparations under sections 2743.51 to 2743.72 of the Revised Code:

(a) A victim who was one of the following at the time of the criminally injurious conduct:

(i) A resident of the United States;

(ii) A resident of a foreign country the laws of which permit residents of this state to recover compensation as victims of offenses committed in that country.

(b) A dependent of a deceased victim who is described in division (A)(1)(a) of this section;

(c) A third person, other than a collateral source, who legally assumes or voluntarily pays the obligations of a victim, or of a dependent of a victim, who is described in division (A)(1)(a) of this section, which obligations are incurred as a result of the criminally injurious conduct that is the subject of the claim and may include, but are not limited to, medical or burial expenses;

(d) A person who is authorized to act on behalf of any person who is described in division (A)(1)(a), (b), or (c) of this section;

(e) The estate of a deceased victim who is described in division (A)(1)(a) of this section.

(2) Any of the following persons who claim an award of reparations under sections 2743.51 to 2743.72 of the Revised Code:

(a) A victim who had a permanent place of residence within this state at the time of the criminally injurious conduct and who, at the time of the criminally injurious conduct, complied with any one of the following:

(i) Had a permanent place of employment in this state;

(ii) Was a member of the regular armed forces of the United States or of the United States coast guard or was a full-time member of the Ohio organized militia or of the United States army reserve, naval reserve, or air force reserve;

(iii) Was retired and receiving social security or any other retirement income;

(iv) Was sixty years of age or older;

(v) Was temporarily in another state for the purpose of receiving medical treatment;

(vi) Was temporarily in another state for the purpose of performing employment-related duties required by an employer located within this state as an express condition of employment or employee benefits;

(vii) Was temporarily in another state for the purpose of receiving occupational, vocational, or other job-related training or instruction required by an employer located within this state as an express condition of employment or employee benefits;

(viii) Was a full-time student at an academic institution, college, or university located in another state;

(ix) Had not departed the geographical boundaries of this state for a period exceeding thirty days or with the intention of becoming a citizen of another state or establishing a permanent place of residence in another state.

(b) A dependent of a deceased victim who is described in division (A)(2)(a) of this section;

(c) A third person, other than a collateral source, who legally assumes or voluntarily pays the obligations of a victim, or of a dependent of a victim, who is described in division (A)(2)(a) of this section, which obligations are incurred as a result of the criminally injurious conduct that is the subject of the claim and may include, but are not limited to, medical or burial expenses;

(d) A person who is authorized to act on behalf of any person who is described in division (A)(2)(a), (b), or (c) of this section;

(e) The estate of a deceased victim who is described in division (A)(2)(a) of this section.

(B) "Collateral source" means a source of benefits or advantages for economic loss otherwise reparable that the victim or claimant has received, or that is readily available to the victim or claimant, from any of the following sources:

(1) The offender;

(2) The government of the United States or any of its agencies, a state or any of its political subdivisions, or an instrumentality of two or more states, unless the law providing for the benefits or advantages makes them excess or secondary to benefits under sections 2743.51 to 2743.72 of the Revised Code;

(3) Social security, medicare, and medicaid;

(4) State-required, temporary, nonoccupational disability insurance;

(5) Workers' compensation;

(6) Wage continuation programs of any employer;

(7) Proceeds of a contract of insurance payable to the victim for loss that the victim sustained because of the criminally injurious conduct;

(8) A contract providing prepaid hospital and other health care services, or benefits for disability;

(9) That portion of the proceeds of all contracts of insurance payable to the claimant on account of the death of the victim that exceeds fifty thousand dollars;

(10) Any compensation recovered or recoverable under the laws of another state, district, territory, or foreign country because the victim was the victim of an offense committed in that state, district, territory, or country.

"Collateral source" does not include any money, or the monetary value of any property, that is subject to sections 2969.01 to 2969.06 of the Revised Code or that is received as a benefit from the Ohio public safety officers death benefit fund created by section 742.62 of the Revised Code.

(C) "Criminally injurious conduct" means one of the following:

(1) For the purposes of any person described in division (A)(1) of this section, any conduct that occurs or is attempted in this state; poses a substantial threat of personal injury or death; and is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or death, or would be so punishable but for the fact that the person engaging in the conduct lacked capacity to commit the crime under the laws of this state. Criminally injurious conduct does not include conduct arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle, except when any of the following applies:

(a) The person engaging in the conduct intended to cause personal injury or death;

(b) The person engaging in the conduct was using the vehicle to flee immediately after committing a felony or an act that would constitute a felony but for the fact that the person engaging in the conduct lacked the capacity to commit the felony under the laws of this state;

(c) The person engaging in the conduct was using the vehicle in a manner that constitutes an OVI violation;

(d) The conduct occurred on or after July 25, 1990, and the person engaging in the conduct was using the vehicle in a manner that constitutes a violation of section 2903.08 of the Revised Code;

(e) The person engaging in the conduct acted in a manner that caused serious physical harm to a person and that constituted a violation of section 4549.02 or 4549.021 of the Revised Code.

(2) For the purposes of any person described in division (A)(2) of this section, any conduct that occurs or is attempted in another state, district, territory, or foreign country; poses a substantial threat of personal injury or death; and is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or death, or would be so punishable but for the fact that the person engaging in the conduct lacked capacity to commit the crime under the laws of the state, district, territory, or foreign country in which the conduct occurred or was attempted. Criminally injurious conduct does not include conduct arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle, except when any of the following applies:

(a) The person engaging in the conduct intended to cause personal injury or death;

(c) The person engaging in the conduct was using the vehicle in a manner that constitutes an OVI violation;

(d) The conduct occurred on or after July 25, 1990, the person engaging in the conduct was using the vehicle in a manner that constitutes a violation of any law of the state, district, territory, or foreign country in which the conduct occurred, and that law is substantially similar to a violation of section 2903.08 of the Revised Code;

(e) The person engaging in the conduct acted in a manner that caused serious physical harm to a person and that constituted a violation of any law of the state, district, territory, or foreign country in which the conduct occurred, and that law is substantially similar to section 4549.02 or 4549.021 of the Revised Code.

(3) For the purposes of any person described in division (A)(1) or (2) of this section, terrorism that occurs within or outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

(D) "Dependent" means an individual wholly or partially dependent upon the victim for care and support, and includes a child of the victim born after the victim's death.

(E) "Economic loss" means economic detriment consisting only of allowable expense, work loss, funeral expense, unemployment benefits loss, replacement services loss, cost of crime scene cleanup, and cost of evidence replacement. If criminally injurious conduct causes death, economic loss includes a dependent's economic loss and a dependent's replacement services loss. Noneconomic detriment is not economic loss; however, economic loss may be caused by pain and suffering or physical impairment.

(F)

(1) For a victim described in division (L)(1) of this section, "allowable expense" means reasonable charges incurred for reasonably needed products, services, and accommodations, including those for medical care, rehabilitation, rehabilitative occupational training, and other remedial treatment and care and including replacement costs for hearing aids; dentures, retainers, and other dental appliances; canes, walkers, and other mobility tools; and eyeglasses and other corrective lenses. It does not include that portion of a charge for a room in a hospital, clinic, convalescent home, nursing home, or any other institution engaged in providing nursing care and related services in excess of a reasonable and customary charge for semiprivate accommodations, unless accommodations other than semiprivate accommodations are medically required.

(2) For a victim described in division (L)(2) of this section, "allowable expense" means reasonable charges incurred for psychiatric care or counseling reasonably needed as a result of the criminally injurious conduct. No other type of expense is compensable under section 2743.51 to 2743.72 of the Revised Code for a victim of that type.

(3) For a victim described in division (L)(3) of this section, "allowable expense" means work loss and reasonable charges incurred for psychiatric care or counseling reasonably needed as a result of the criminally injurious conduct. No other type of expense is compensable under sections 2743.51 to 2743.72 of the Revised Code for a victim of that type.

(4) A family member of a victim who died as a proximate result of criminally injurious conduct may be reimbursed as an allowable expense through the victim's application for wages lost and travel expenses incurred in order to attend criminal justice proceedings arising from the criminally injurious conduct. The cumulative allowable expense for wages lost and travel expenses incurred by a family member to attend criminal justice proceedings shall not exceed five hundred dollars for each family member of the victim and two thousand dollars in the aggregate for all family members of the victim.

(5) For a victim described in division (L)(1) of this section, "allowable expense" includes both of the following:

(a) Reasonable expenses and fees necessary to obtain a guardian's bond pursuant to section 2109.04 of the Revised Code when the bond is required to pay an award to a fiduciary on behalf of a minor or other incompetent;

(b) Attorney's fees not exceeding one thousand dollars, at a rate not exceeding one hundred dollars per hour, incurred to successfully obtain a restraining order, custody order, or other order to physically separate a victim from an offender. Attorney's fees for the services described in this division may include an amount for reasonable travel time incurred to attend court hearings, not exceeding three hours' round-trip for each court hearing, assessed at a rate not exceeding thirty dollars per hour.

(G) "Work loss" means loss of income from work that the injured person would have performed if the person had not been injured and expenses reasonably incurred by the person to obtain services in lieu of those the person would have performed for income, reduced by any income from substitute work actually performed by the person, or by income the person would have earned in available appropriate substitute work that the person was capable of performing but unreasonably failed to undertake.

(H) "Replacement services loss" means expenses reasonably incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the injured person would have performed, not for income, but for the benefit of the person's self or family, if the person had not been injured.

(I) "Dependent's economic loss" means loss after a victim's death of contributions of things of economic value to the victim's dependents, not including services they would have received from the victim if the victim had not suffered the fatal injury, less expenses of the dependents avoided by reason of the victim's death. If a minor child of a victim is adopted after the victim's death, the minor child continues after the adoption to incur a dependent's economic loss as a result of the victim's death. If the surviving spouse of a victim remarries, the surviving spouse continues after the remarriage to incur a dependent's economic loss as a result of the victim's death.

(J) "Dependent's replacement services loss" means loss reasonably incurred by dependents after a victim's death in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the victim would have performed for their benefit if the victim had not suffered the fatal injury, less expenses of the dependents avoided by reason of the victim's death and not subtracted in calculating the dependent's economic loss. If a minor child of a victim is adopted after the victim's death, the minor child continues after the adoption to incur a dependent's replacement services loss as a result of the victim's death. If the surviving spouse of a victim remarries, the surviving spouse continues after the remarriage to incur a dependent's replacement services loss as a result of the victim's death.

(K) "Noneconomic detriment" means pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, or other nonpecuniary damage.

(L) "Victim" means one of the following:

(1) A person who suffers personal injury or death as a result of any of the following:

(a) Criminally injurious conduct;

(b) The good faith effort of any person to prevent criminally injurious conduct;

(c) The good faith effort of any person to apprehend a person suspected of engaging in criminally injurious conduct.

(2) A person who is an immediate family member of a victim of criminally injurious conduct that consists of a homicide, a sexual assault, domestic violence, or a severe and permanently incapacitating injury resulting in paraplegia or a similar life-altering condition, who requires psychiatric care or counseling as a result of the criminally injurious conduct;

(3) A person who suffers trauma so severe that it impedes or prohibits a person from participating in normal daily activities and who is either of the following:

(a) A family member of a victim of criminally injurious conduct that consists of a homicide, or a family member of a victim who, as a result of criminally injurious conduct, has sustained a severe and permanently incapacitating injury resulting in paraplegia or a similar life-altering condition, and who can demonstrate either of the following by a preponderance of the evidence:

(i) The person witnessed the criminally injurious conduct.

(ii) The person arrived at the crime scene in its immediate aftermath.

(b) An immediate family member who is a caretaker of a dependent victim of criminally injurious conduct that consists of a sexual assault.

(M) "Contributory misconduct" means any conduct of the claimant or of the victim through whom the claimant claims an award of reparations that is unlawful or intentionally tortious and to which all of the following apply:

(1) The conduct occurred at the time of the criminally injurious conduct that is the basis of the claim.

(2) The conduct itself caused or posed a substantial and imminent threat of causing serious physical harm or death to another.

(3) The conduct instigated or proximately caused the criminally injurious conduct that is the basis of the claim.

(N)

(1) "Funeral expense" means any reasonable charges that are not in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars per funeral and that are incurred for expenses directly related to a victim's funeral, cremation, or burial and any wages lost or travel expenses incurred by a family member of a victim in order to attend the victim's funeral, cremation, or burial.

(2) An award for funeral expenses shall be applied first to expenses directly related to the victim's funeral, cremation, or burial. An award for wages lost or travel expenses incurred by a family member of the victim shall not exceed five hundred dollars for each family member and shall not exceed in the aggregate the difference between seven thousand five hundred dollars and expenses that are reimbursed by the program and that are directly related to the victim's funeral, cremation, or burial.

(O) "Unemployment benefits loss" means a loss of unemployment benefits pursuant to Chapter 4141. of the Revised Code when the loss arises solely from the inability of a victim to meet the able to work, available for suitable work, or the actively seeking suitable work requirements of division (A)(4)(a) of section 4141.29 of the Revised Code.

(P) "OVI violation" means any of the following:

(1) A violation of section 4511.19 of the Revised Code, of any municipal ordinance prohibiting the operation of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them, or of any municipal ordinance prohibiting the operation of a vehicle with a prohibited concentration of alcohol, a controlled substance, or a metabolite of a controlled substance in the whole blood, blood serum or plasma, breath, or urine;

(2) A violation of division (A)(1) of section 2903.06 of the Revised Code;

(3) A violation of division (A)(2), (3), or (4) of section 2903.06 of the Revised Code or of a municipal ordinance substantially similar to any of those divisions, if the offender was under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them, at the time of the commission of the offense;

(4) For purposes of any person described in division (A)(2) of this section, a violation of any law of the state, district, territory, or foreign country in which the criminally injurious conduct occurred, if that law is substantially similar to a violation described in division (P)(1) or (2) of this section or if that law is substantially similar to a violation described in division (P)(3) of this section and the offender was under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them, at the time of the commission of the offense.

(Q) "Pendency of the claim" for an original reparations application or supplemental reparations application means the period of time from the date the criminally injurious conduct upon which the application is based occurred until the date a final decision, order, or judgment concerning that original reparations application or supplemental reparations application is issued.

(R) "Terrorism" means any activity to which all of the following apply:

(1) The activity involves a violent act or an act that is dangerous to human life.

(2) The act described in division (R)(1) of this section is committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States and is a violation of the criminal laws of the United States, this state, or any other state or the act described in division (R)(1) of this section is committed outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States and would be a violation of the criminal laws of the United States, this state, or any other state if committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

(3) The activity appears to be intended to do any of the following:

(a) Intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(b) Influence the policy of any government by intimidation or coercion;

(c) Affect the conduct of any government by assassination or kidnapping.

(4) The activity occurs primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States or transcends the national boundaries of the United States in terms of the means by which the activity is accomplished, the person or persons that the activity appears intended to intimidate or coerce, or the area or locale in which the perpetrator or perpetrators of the activity operate or seek asylum.

(S) "Transcends the national boundaries of the United States" means occurring outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States in addition to occurring within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

(T) "Cost of crime scene cleanup" means any of the following:

(1) The replacement cost for items of clothing removed from a victim in order to make an assessment of possible physical harm or to treat physical harm;

(2) Reasonable and necessary costs of cleaning the scene and repairing, for the purpose of personal security, property damaged at the scene where the criminally injurious conduct occurred, not to exceed seven hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate per claim.

(U) "Cost of evidence replacement" means costs for replacement of property confiscated for evidentiary purposes related to the criminally injurious conduct, not to exceed seven hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate per claim.

(V) "Provider" means any person who provides a victim or claimant with a product, service, or accommodations that are an allowable expense or a funeral expense.

(W) "Immediate family member" means an individual who resided in the same permanent household as a victim at the time of the criminally injurious conduct and who is related to the victim by affinity or consanguinity.

(X) "Family member" means an individual who is related to a victim by affinity or consanguinity.

R.C. § 2743.51

Amended by 134th General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 36,§1, eff. 3/2/2022.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.29,HB 86, §1, eff. 9/30/2011.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9,HB 1, §101.01, eff. 10/16/2009.

Effective Date: 01-01-2004; 08-17-2006; 04-04-2007