Overview

• On July 7–8, former Attorney General Marc Dann and ex-Rep. Jeff Crossman filed a class-action in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on behalf of Cuyahoga County residents to block the diversion of $1.7 billion from Ohio’s unclaimed property fund, including $600 million for a new Browns stadium in Brook Park.
• The suit alleges the budget’s escheatment provision breaches the U.S. Constitution’s due process and takings clauses as well as the Ohio Constitution’s bans on private property seizure and fiduciary breaches.
• Plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop the state from using dormant unclaimed funds for professional sports and other cultural facility projects and demand a jury trial on any monetary or legal claims.
• Senate Republicans led by Finance Chair Jerry Cirino argue that the legislature has authority to repurpose idle assets and note that owners have ten years to reclaim their unclaimed property.
• No Ohio court has previously ruled on this form of escheatment, though lawmakers have redirected about $1.3 billion from the fund since 1967 and at least four other states operate similar unclaimed property laws without judicial reversal.