Ohio Code 4722.08 – Owners’ causes of action
For a violation of Chapter 4722. of the Revised Code, an owner has a cause of action and is entitled to relief as follows:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4722.08
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Home construction service: means the construction of a residential building. See Ohio Code 4722.01
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Owner: means the person who contracts with a home construction service supplier. See Ohio Code 4722.01
- Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
- supplier: means a person who contracts with an owner to provide home construction services for compensation and who maintains in force a general liability insurance policy in an amount of not less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars. See Ohio Code 4722.01
(A) Where the violation was an act prohibited by section 4722.02, 4722.03, or 4722.04 of the Revised Code, the owner may, in an individual action, rescind the transaction or recover the owner’s actual economic damages plus an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars in noneconomic damages.
(B) In any action for rescission, revocation of the transaction must occur within a reasonable time after the owner discovers or should have discovered the ground for it and before any substantial change in condition of the subject of the transaction.
(C) Any owner may seek a declaratory judgment, an injunction, or other appropriate relief against an act or practice that violates this chapter.
(D) The court may award to the prevailing party a reasonable attorney’s fee limited to the work reasonably performed, if either of the following apply:
(1) The owner complaining of the act or practice that violated this chapter has brought or maintained an action that is groundless, and the owner filed or maintained the action in bad faith;
(2) The home construction service supplier has knowingly committed an act or practice that violates this chapter.
(E) As used in this section, “actual economic damages” means damages for direct, incidental, or consequential pecuniary losses resulting from a violation of Chapter 4722 of the Revised Code and does not include damages for noneconomic loss as defined in section 2315.18 of the Revised Code.
(F) Nothing in this section shall preclude an owner from also proceeding with a cause of action under any other theory of law.