Suing a County-Owned Nursing Home After a Death: The Ohio Supreme Court's Fleenor Decision
Estate of Fleenor v. Ottawa County holds that an Ohio county without a charter must be sued through its board of commissioners. Why it matters after a death.
Some Ohio nursing homes are owned and operated by counties. When a resident of a county home dies and the family believes neglect played a part, there is an early, technical question that can matter a great deal: exactly whom do you name in the lawsuit?
On October 11, 2022, the Supreme Court of Ohio answered that question for Ohio counties that have not adopted a charter in Estate of Fleenor v. Ottawa County, 2022-Ohio-3581. The answer is the board of county commissioners, not the county itself. This post explains the decision and why families and their lawyers should pay attention to it.
What happened
According to the Court's opinion, the estate of Jennings Fleenor filed a lawsuit in 2018 in the Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas. It asserted claims for negligence, wrongful death, and violation of a nursing home resident's rights against the nursing home, Riverview Nursing Home, which is owned and run by Ottawa County. The complaint named the defendant as the "County of Ottawa d/b/a Ottawa County Riverview Nursing Home." It did not name the board of county commissioners.
The county defended the case for years. Its lawyers answered the complaint and took part in depositions. The president of the board of commissioners even signed a written endorsement of a motion in the case. But the county's answer also raised a defense that the county was not "sui juris," meaning it lacked the legal capacity to be sued in its own name.
The trial court granted summary judgment to the county on other grounds. The Sixth District Court of Appeals reversed that judgment, sending the case back, and rejected the county's argument that it could not be sued in its own name. The county appealed that one issue to the Supreme Court.
What the Supreme Court decided
The Court held that Ottawa County, as a county without a charter, "is not sui juris and therefore must be sued in the name of its board of commissioners."
The reasoning came from two statutes. Under R.C. 301.22, a county that adopts a charter or an alternative form of government becomes "a body politic and corporate" that can sue and be sued. Counties without a charter are different. R.C. 305.12 says, "The board of county commissioners may sue and be sued * * * in any court." So for those counties, the board is the proper defendant.
The Court also noted that the political subdivision immunity statutes in R.C. Chapter 2744 do not themselves grant a right to sue the government. Whether a party can be sued and whether it can be held liable are different questions.
The family's case was not automatically over
The county argued that because the board was never named, and because the time to sue had run, the case must be dismissed. The estate responded that the right entity had been served and had defended the case all along. It pointed out that it had asked the trial court, in a brief, for permission to amend the complaint, and that under the civil rules such an amendment can "relate back" to the original filing date.
The Supreme Court did not decide that dispute. It sent the case back to the trial court to decide, in the first instance, whether to allow the estate to amend its complaint or to dismiss the action. So the estate still has a path forward, but one that now depends on the trial court's decision.
What families should take from this
Name the right defendant from the start. For a county-owned nursing home, hospital, or other county operation, the lawyer should check whether the county has a charter. If it does not, the board of county commissioners should be named. Getting this right at the beginning avoids years of argument.
The two-year deadline makes mistakes costly. Under R.C. 2125.02(D)(1), a wrongful death action generally must be filed within two years after the death. A defect that could be fixed easily within that time can become a serious problem after it. Our guide chapter on deadlines explains the rule.
Ask to amend promptly. When a defense like this is raised, a formal motion to amend, filed promptly, is the safer course than waiting.
Claims against public owners have special rules. A county-run nursing home is a public entity. That brings immunity statutes and other rules into play that do not apply to a private facility. Our pages on nursing home wrongful death and government wrongful death claims explain the differences, and our chapter on how cases are resolved describes the stages of a case.
A word about the Fleenor family
Behind the procedural question is a family that has waited more than four years to have its claims heard. Decisions like this one are about technical rules, but they affect real people. We hope the remand gives the family a fair chance to be heard on the merits.
This article is general information about Ohio law, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and rules change; talk to a lawyer about your family's situation.
You Don't Have to Carry This Alone. Talk With a Dayton Wrongful Death Lawyer.
If a loved one died in a nursing home, including one owned by a county or other public body, we can review what happened at no cost. Because the correct defendant and the two-year deadline both matter, it is wise to call well before time runs short.