Frequently Asked Questions

What Does It Cost?
What About Expenses?
What About Recent Tort Reform Efforts?
What Does Senate Bill No. 281 Say Regarding Medical Malpractice?
What Senate Bill No. 281 Means To All Of Us?
How Long Do I Have To Make My Claim In Ohio?
Why Should I Choose Wolske & Associates?

What Does It Cost?

You will not be required to pay a fee unless you win compensation for your claim.

Our firm will advance all of the expenses needed to finance your case, which you will repay only at the successful conclusion of your case. If you do not recover damages, you will not be obligated to pay fees or other expenses associated with prosecuting your case.

What About Recent Tort Reform Efforts?

There is currently a great deal of public debate regarding tort reform and the need to reform our country's civil justice system. Historically, our legal system had been designed to compensate plaintiffs while ensuring the fair administration of justice for defendants. Unfortunately, the problem with most tort reform legislation is that it is designed to do just the opposite.

Our Firm's position, is that tort reform is unnecessary. The built in checks and balances of the civil justice system provides optimum fairness to all parties. If allowed to function as designed, the current system already provides the desired fairness to both sides.

Our Firm is proud of the legal work it provides to injured persons, and looks forward to doing so in the future.

What Does Senate Bill No. 281 Say Regarding Medical Malpractice?

Senate Bill No. 281, a product of the 124th General Assembly, applies to incidents of neglect occurring on or after April 11, 2003, and significantly limits the rights of those of us injured by medical neglect. The act limits recovery of money damages in cases of medical, dental, optometric and chiropractic malpractice.

The act restricts the time within which you can file a case to the later of the following:

One (1) year following the last date of treatment (for that condition), OR
One (1) year from the date the patient knows or should know of the injury resulting from the malpractice.

This much of the statute of limitations is the same as before with the following further restrictions. With two minor exceptions, under no circumstances may a lawsuit be filed longer than four (4) years after the date of the malpractice itself. So, don't wait to call us! The time was already short and the legislature just made it shorter.

The remainder of the onerous statutory amendments deal in large part with restrictions surrounding the filed lawsuit. BE AWARE THAT THE JURY, THE GROUP OF YOUR PEERS WHO ORDINARILY DECIDE YOUR CASE, WILL NOT KNOW OF THE RESTRICTIONS WE WILL NOW DISCUSS. They will be applied by the judge after the verdict.

1. “Non-economic damages” include:

Pain and Suffering.
Loss of society, companionship, care, etc., included within the legal phrase, loss of “consortium”.
Disfigurement.
Mental Anguish.
Any other intangible loss.

Verdicts and judgments for claims for “non-economic damages” are now limited to$250,000.00, or three (3) times the economic loss, whichever is greater, to a maximum of $350.000.00.

The legislature gratuitously valued certain injuries as worth more:

permanent and substantial physical deformity, loss of use of a limb, or loss of a bodily organ system.
permanent and substantial injury that permanently prevents the injured person from being able to independently care for self and perform life sustaining activities.

These injuries have a $500,000.00, non-economic damage cap.

2. Attorney fees are arbitrarily regulated in certain situations.

3. Claims for wrongful death and certain claims against governmental entities are excluded by their own terms from the act's cap on damages.

4. Money awarded by verdict or judgment for future damages for any damages which accrue after the verdict is subject to a hearing to determine whether the loser can make periodic payments. This lets the loser hold the money, parceling it out over time rather than the winner holding the money awarded by the jury.

5. Provisions now exist by which the defense may collect back certain costs, fees and expenses if the Court finds that the case was filed and litigated against a defendant without a "reasonable good faith basis".

What Senate Bill No. 281 Means To All Of Us?

This act is sobering and oppressive to any of us injured by medical neglect. Medically damaged victims are singled out rather than victims of car accidents, defective products, discrimination, or any other mechanism of physical or financial injury. Some of its provisions will be challenged on Constitutional grounds. However, the composition of the Ohio Supreme Court currently gives us cause to believe the Constitutional challenges will be very difficult to win.

The act is arbitrary and insulting to the citizens of Ohio. Think of what a serious injury to you or a family member would be worth and you will quickly see how cheap and insignificant the Ohio legislature has valued a person’s suffering. The liability insurance companies are profiting at the patients’ expense. The doctors are the puppets whose strings have been pulled in the form of higher malpractice insurance rates. The public consumer of medical services pays the price. How gratifying that the insurance companies and the doctors will continue to prosper at your expense!

Both the Ohio legislature and President Bush’s Republican business machinery are not satisfied with these unreasonable limits. They are forging ahead proposing more restrictions on your rights to survive with a negligent injury. President Bush has proposed a $250,000.00 non-economic damage limit for all injured people. Consider how President Bush would feel if his wife received a permanent, painful condition due to neglect. Would he think her pain and suffering was worth only $250,000.00 for the rest of her life?

How Long Do I Have To Make My Claim In Ohio?

Personal Injury/Auto Accidents
Normally two (2) years from the date of the accident.

Medical negligence
One (1) year from the last date of treatment by suspect provider, or one (1) year from the date the patient knows or has reason to know of the malpractice injury, whichever date is later. Now, the law provides that any claim must be filed within four (4) years of the act or omission with two limited exceptions.

Wrongful death
By statute, two (2) years from the date of death.

Why Should I Choose Wolske & Associates?

As Woody Hayes, the famed coach of Ohio State University often said, “You win with people.” The caring and conscientious people, both attorneys and staff, at Wolske & Associates, make the difference.