Statue of Limitations vs Statute of Repose

Hey, Brian, what's the difference between the statute of limitations and the statute of repose? The statute of limitations and the statute of repose? Good question. So both of those are legal rules that relate to how soon you have to file a lawsuit in the state of Ohio. When we're talking about medical malpractice, the statute of limitations is one year from the date. You know or should know that some injury you suffered is related to some medical care you have received. And the focus on the statute of limitations is on the person who's injured. And have they brought the suit in enough time? If you don't discover your injury until a year and a half after the negligent act, you still have a year from the date you discovered the lawsuit to file suit. So the focus is on the person who was injured. The statute of repose, on the other hand, is different because it focuses on the person being sued and the statute of repose in Ohio basically says that if you're a doctor or other medical professional, you simply cannot be sued after four years from the date of your alleged negligence period, whether the victim finds out about it or not, whether you're still treating the patient or not, after four years from the date of the alleged malpractice, you simply cannot be sued any longer, even if it turns out that your mistake doesn't cause injury for another five years. So the patient doesn't find out they're injured because they're, in fact, not injured until five years after your mistake. You can't be sued because the statute of repose bars the case. So if you are the victim of medical negligence, you must make sure that your lawsuit is filed both within the time period of the statute of limitations, which may be as short as one year from the date of the medical mistake. And within the statute of repose, it can be tricky. It can be complicated. But a seasoned, experienced medical negligence lawyer should be able to help you through it, figure out what the deadlines are and get the case filed on time.