House lawmakers this week entertained additional testimony regarding a bill that would cap the timeframe in which an extended family member can bring a wrongful death claim.

House Bill 279 would set the limit at a year after the wrongful death when the deceased individual is survived by immediate family. Generally, a wrongful death action brought by immediate family must be commenced within two years of the deceased individual.

The bipartisan effort of the measure is intended to clarify the law, said Canal Winchester Rep. Richard Brown, the Democratic joint sponsor of the bill.

“When a claim for wrongful death is presented to a probate court for approval, the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure and the Ohio Rules of Superintendence, together with local probate court rules, set forth notice requirements, but the issue of who should receive such notice remains unclear under current law, causing difficulties for practitioners and probate courts around the state,” he said in testimony at a Civil Justice Committee hearing.

The state’s current wrongful death statute provides that a civil action may be brought in the name of an executor or administrator of the deceased individual’s estate for the exclusive benefit of two classes of parties — the surviving spouse, children, and parents, all of whom are rebuttably presumed to have suffered damages by reason of the wrongful death, and “other next of kin,” who must demonstrate entitlement to any damages as a result of the wrongful death.

“The class of potential beneficiaries described as ‘other next of kin’ has been defined and interpreted in different ways by various probate courts around Ohio,” Brown said. “Disputes have arisen as to precisely who should be included in the ‘other next of kin’ class, which in turn leads to problems of who should receive required probate court notifications.”

Among state probate courts, there is no uniformity as to notification of these individuals, he said.

“Therefore, there is no uniformity as to who should receive notice of a potential wrongful death settlement,” Brown added.

The bill that he has jointly sponsored with Republican Rep. Scott Oelslager of North Canton was devised to eliminate confusion relating to the notice requirements for the wrongful death statute and rectify inconsistent practices.

HB 279 is expected to meet those ends by establishing a requirement that “other next of kin” shall file with the probate court a written notice of claim for damages within a year of the individual’s death in order to be considered eligible to receive damages upon sufficient proof and eliminating the notice requirement to such “other next of kin,” who fail to present a timely claim under the proposed new law.

“This will allow attorneys to obtain wrongful death settlement approvals in probate court more efficiently and eliminate or reduce malpractice claims arising from the failure to notify certain relatives of the proposed settlement,” Brown said. “Any ‘other next of kin’ who does not file a timely written notice of claim in the probate court shall be forever barred from receipt or entitlement to any damages as a result of the decedent’s wrongful death and would not be entitled to notice of a settlement hearing regarding approval of the proposed wrongful death settlement.”

In separate testimony, Ohio Judicial Conference Executive Director Paul Pfeifer raised a couple of issues with the legislation.

“We are concerned that the bill’s 30-day notice to other next of kin is too short for a potential claimant to receive notice, schedule a meeting with an attorney, and file a claim, particularly with ongoing mail delivery issues,” he wrote. “We suggest increasing the timeframe to at least 60 days.”

Additionally, Pfeifer suggested lawmakers include a statutory definition of “other next of kin.”

He said its omission from the bill would perpetuate use of “current inconsistent definitions” created by appellate decisions or local rules and continue to confuse practitioners and parties.

HB 279, which enjoys the co-sponsor support of 11 fellow House members, awaits further consideration by the committee.