Ohio Intentional Tort Statute Upheld
Legal Alert March 23, 2010 - The Ohio Supreme Court issued two rulings today upholding Ohio's "new" intentional tort statute. As you may recall, this law was passed in 2004 by the Legislature as part of Ohio's "tort reform" effort. Essentially, the new intentional tort statute required an employee to prove "deliberate intent" on the part of the employer in order to recover damages outside the workers' compensation system for a workplace injury, thus negating the less stringent "substantial certainty" test.
Two appeals courts invalidated the new law in 2007. The Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals of those decisions and the same were argued to the Justices on 2/18/09. The Supreme Court reversed those earlier decisions and ruled the law is constitutional.
Here are the decision summaries. You will also find links to the actual opinions on this page as well. Please feel free to contact Workers' Compensation Attorney R. Clint Zollinger at rczollinger@day-ketterer.com if you have questions regarding these cases.