All Roll Calls
Yes: 207 • No: 28
OhioHB 105136th General Assembly (2025-2026)HouseWALLET
Revise non-recourse litigation funding agreement regulations
Sponsored By: Jim Thomas (Republican), Meredith Craig (Republican)
Signed by Governor
CommerceInsuranceCourts and Civil Law
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
9 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 1 costs, 4 mixed.
Clearer funding contracts for Ohio consumers
These protections cover Ohio residents with pending civil claims who receive cash advances under $400,000 against possible case proceeds. Contracts must be fully completed, with space for your initials on every page. Front-page disclosures must show the advance, all charges and how they grow, and maximum repayment amounts for one or multiple agreements. You can cancel without penalty within 10 business days after funding by returning all money received. Returns must use the specified in-person or insured-mail methods, including an uncashed check or a repayment check. Payment comes only from available case proceeds; you owe nothing without proceeds unless you breached the contract or committed fraud. Your lawyer must certify reviewing the terms with you, having a contingency fee, handling proceeds through a trust account or settlement fund, helping fulfill the agreement, and receiving no referral payment. Contracts must explain cancellation and the funder's lack of control, warn against blank spaces, recommend consulting your lawyer, and disclose limits on tax or financial advice. A willful violation, including a missing required lawyer acknowledgment, makes the agreement unenforceable; injured consumers can also seek state consumer-protection remedies.
Fee limits for consumer lawsuit advances
Consumer legal funding companies cannot charge a prepayment fee or penalty. A one-time service fee cannot exceed 7% of the initial cash advance. Prohibited fees and charges above the maximum disclosed in the agreement cannot be enforced. The 7% limit applies to the one-time service fee, not all charges combined.
Consumers keep control of funded lawsuits
Consumer funding companies cannot steer lawsuit decisions, pay court costs or lawyer fees, or seek waivers of consumer remedies. They cannot use misleading ads, withhold complete contract copies, or pay or accept referral rewards involving lawyers or health providers. Companies cannot steer consumers to specific lawyers or medical providers; unrepresented consumers can receive referrals to permitted lawyer-referral services or legal aid. Before knowingly funding a claim with an earlier assignment of proceeds, the company must ensure that assignment is paid off. Repayment includes the earlier advance and contracted fees, unless the consumer and all prior parties agree in writing to less. Multiple companies can fund the same claim at the same time only with written consent from all companies, the consumer, and the lawyer. Agreements based on collusion to create fabricated or bad-faith claims, or induce a represented consumer to switch to funding-linked counsel, are void from the start.
Lawyer safeguards for funded consumers
A company cannot fund your claim if your retained lawyer or law firm has a financial or ownership interest in it. Lawyers and firms with those interests face bans on representing funded consumers, directly funding represented consumers, and making covered referrals. The lawyer restrictions also apply when a lawyer's family member has a financial interest in the company. Your lawyer needs your prior written consent before sharing confidential or legally protected information with a consumer funding company. Even with consent, sharing cannot violate court rules, court orders, or professional conduct rules.
Commercial funders cannot steer legal cases
Commercial litigation funders cannot make, influence, or direct decisions about a legal claim. This includes choosing lawyers or experts, setting strategy, settling, or otherwise resolving the claim. Claimants, their lawyers, and affiliated lawyers or firms cannot share court-sealed or court-protected information with those funders. The parties and their legal representatives keep control of case decisions.
Foreign lawsuit funding faces new bans
Consumer funding companies and commercial litigation funders cannot knowingly enter covered agreements with people or entities domiciled outside the United States. Consumers and other entities also cannot enter those agreements with foreign-domiciled people or entities. The ban also covers claims financed directly or indirectly by a foreign-domiciled person or entity. These rules restrict which funding relationships are allowed.
Funding liens shape consumers' lawsuit payouts
A consumer funding agreement creates a lien, giving the company a claim to money from the lawsuit. It takes priority over liens completed later. It does not override claim-related liens expressly authorized by law, including specified lawyer-fee, Medicaid, Medicare, and workers' compensation liens. These priorities determine which claims are paid before the consumer receives the remaining proceeds.
Lawsuit funding terms become more public
Lawyers for parties to covered consumer or commercial funding agreements must report their existence and contents to the Ohio Attorney General. Reports are due within 14 days after a settlement of a previously filed court claim, a final appealable order, or an order marking the trial court's final stage. The Attorney General must promptly post the contents online, removing legally confidential information, including details that could identify the consumer or plaintiff. Consumer and commercial contracts cannot block or limit court discovery of the agreement or its parties. That discovery rule applies to agreements made, amended, or renewed on or after the relevant section's effective date.
State oversight grows for litigation funders
Ohio replaces its prior funding rules with a new framework for consumer legal funding and commercial litigation financing. Beginning 90 days after the relevant section's effective date, both types of funders must register before doing business in Ohio. Registration includes company names and home addresses, leadership and affiliated-company details, and acknowledgment that their financiers have read the law. The commercial financier definition excludes qualifying tax-exempt nonprofits and related pro bono funders. After a court finds a violation, the Attorney General can seek court remedies, including banning a funder from that business in Ohio.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Jim Thomas
Republican • House
Meredith Craig
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Angela N. King
Republican • House
Bernard Willis
Republican • House
Bill Roemer
Republican • House
Bob Peterson
Republican • House
Brian Lampton
Republican • House
Brian Lorenz
Republican • House
David Thomas
Republican • House
Derrick Hall
Democratic • House
Haraz N. Ghanbari
Republican • House
Jack K. Daniels
Republican • House
Josh Williams
Republican • House
Kellie Deeter
Republican • House
Marilyn John
Republican • House
Mark Sigrist
Democratic • House
Mike Odioso
Republican • House
Nathan H. Manning
Republican • Senate
Riordan T. McClain
Republican • House
Sean P. Brennan
Democratic • House
Sharon A. Ray
Republican • House
Tim Barhorst
Republican • House
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 6/10/2026
Passed
Yes: 31 • No: 2
House vote • 6/10/2026
Concurred in Senate amendments
Yes: 82 • No: 12
Senate vote • 6/10/2026
Judiciary: Reported
Yes: 6 • No: 0
House vote • 11/19/2025
Passed
Yes: 76 • No: 14
House vote • 11/18/2025
Insurance: Reported
Yes: 12 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Signed by Governor
7/7/2026GovernorSent to Governor
7/1/2026GovernorConcurred in Senate amendments
6/10/2026HousePassed
6/10/2026SenateReported
6/10/2026SenateRefer to Committee
3/24/2026SenateIntroduced
11/25/2025SenatePassed
11/19/2025HouseReported
11/18/2025HouseRefer to Committee
2/26/2025HouseIntroduced
2/18/2025House
Bill Text
As Enrolled
7/7/2026
As Introduced
As Passed by the House
As Passed by the Senate
As Reported by the House Insurance Committee
As Reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee
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