To amend section 313.19 of the Revised Code to establish procedures for the commencement, determination, and appeal of an action to change a death certificate or coroner's verdict.

Section 1. That section 313.19 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 313.19. (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Decedent" means the person whose death is recorded on a death certificate.

(2)(a) "Interested party" means a person that has a substantial interest in the correctness of a death certificate or coroner's verdict and includes, but is not limited to:

(i) The spouse of the decedent at the time of the decedent's death;

(ii) A natural or adoptive parent of the decedent;

(iii) A natural or adopted child of the decedent, or a parent of the natural or adopted child;

(iv) An executor or other fiduciary appointed by a court to care for the decedent's estate;

(v) The prosecuting attorney of the county in which the death certificate for the decedent was filed.

(b) "Interested party" does not include any of the following:

(i) A person who has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any offense related to the death of the decedent unless and until the conviction is overturned, vacated, or otherwise set aside and the action overturning, vacating, or otherwise setting aside the conviction is not subject to further appeal or trial;

(ii) A person, other than a prosecuting attorney, who in the court's opinion is acting solely on behalf of another person who is not an interested party in order to advance the claims of the other person.

(3) "Substantial interest" means a contractual or other financial interest of the person asserting the substantial interest or of that person's heirs in the correctness of the death certificate or coroner's verdict. "Substantial interest" also means an emotional interest based upon a close familial relationship to the decedent and an interest based upon the death certificate or coroner's verdict exposing the person to a substantial possibility of civil liability for wrongful death, a products liability claim, or other similar civil liability.

(4) "Offense related to the death of the decedent" means any of the following:

(a) Aggravated murder, murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, negligent homicide, aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular homicide, or vehicular manslaughter;

(b) An attempt to commit, complicity in committing, or conspiracy to commit any of the offenses listed in division (A)(4)(a) of this section;

(c) Perjury, obstructing justice, or tampering with evidence in relation to any offense listed in division (A)(4)(a) or (b) of this section;

(d) Violating any law of this state or any municipal ordinance that is substantially similar to any offense described in division (A)(4)(a), (b), or (c) of this section;

(e) Violating any law of this state or any municipal ordinance that is a criminal offense in which the death of another is an element.

(5) "Person" means an individual, political subdivision of the state, governmental entity of the state, corporation, business trust, estate, partnership, or association.

(B) The cause of death and the manner and mode in which the death occurred, as delivered by the coroner and incorporated in the coroner's verdict and in the death certificate filed with the division of vital statistics, shall be the legally accepted manner and mode in which such death occurred, and the legally accepted cause of death, unless pursuant to this section the court of common pleas of the county in which the death occurred, after a hearing, directs the coroner to change his the coroner's decision as to such cause and manner and mode of death. In any action or proceeding in which the cause of death and the manner and mode in which the death occurred is a genuinely contested issue, no trier of fact shall presume the correctness of a death certificate or coroner's verdict.

(C) A coroner may modify a death certificate or coroner's verdict as allowed by law, but no court shall order a modification of a death certificate or coroner's verdict except pursuant to this section.

(D) An interested party may seek relief under this section by filing a petition within three years after the decedent's death. The three-year period is not tolled by the pendency of a criminal prosecution, proceeding for post-conviction relief, or appeal related to the death of the decedent. The petitioner shall name as a respondent the county coroner of the county in which the death certificate was filed and all other persons whom a diligent search would reveal to be interested parties if the Rules of Civil Procedure require the joinder. A petition may include as a respondent any interested party whose joinder is permitted by the Rules of Civil Procedure. The petition shall state in detail the relief sought and be accompanied by affidavits supporting the claims contained in the petition. If any issue raised in the petition addresses matters that require expert opinion, one or more of the affidavits shall be made by an expert whose qualifications, as shown in the affidavit, appear to comply with the provisions of the Rules of Evidence concerning expert testimony. The petition shall be served in accordance with the Rules of Civil Procedure.

(E)(1) Except as provided in division (K) of this section, no court shall hear a petition that is not filed within the time prescribed by this section or extend the time within which a petition may be filed. The court may dismiss any petition that fails to properly join and serve any interested party required to be joined if it appears to the court that the petitioner, through a diligent search, should have identified that party as an interested party, and after being alerted to the failure to join an interested party by the court or by another party, the petitioner fails to make reasonable efforts to join the interested party.

(2) A court with which a petition has been filed under this section shall dismiss the petition without a hearing if the petition and accompanying affidavits present only evidence that is substantially the same as evidence that was used or available for use in a prior criminal proceeding or related collateral proceeding by any interested party and if the court in the prior proceeding entered a judgment adverse to that interested party's claim. Evidence shall not be deemed unavailable for use in a prior criminal proceeding or related collateral proceeding solely because it was not presented in that proceeding or was excluded from consideration by the trier of fact in that proceeding on procedural grounds.

(3) In an action brought under this section, the court, in its discretion and on any terms that it considers appropriate, may permit a person, except a person described in division (A)(2)(b)(i) of this section, that would not otherwise qualify as an interested party to be joined as a permissible party and to participate in the action if the court determines that the joinder of the person is necessary to protect the interests of the person. A court's decision to grant or deny a request for joinder of a permissible party is final and not appealable.

(F)(1) If a petition is filed in a timely manner pursuant to this section during the pendency of a criminal prosecution, proceeding for post-conviction relief, or appeal related to the death of the decedent, upon motion of the prosecuting attorney, if the petitioner is a person charged with an offense related to the death of the decedent, the court shall stay the proceedings on the petition until the defendant in the criminal prosecution, the petitioner in the proceeding for post-conviction relief, or the appellant in the appeal has exhausted the defendant's, petitioner's, or appellant's state and federal rights of direct appeal and collateral review. No court shall stay or continue the proceedings if the stay or continuance would unduly prejudice the rights of any other interested party joined in the action at the time of the petition.

(2) Upon motion of the prosecuting attorney, the court may stay the proceedings on any petition in which the petitioner is not a person charged with an offense related to the death of the decedent, if the court finds that further proceedings could compromise a criminal prosecution, proceeding for post-conviction relief, or appeal related to the death of the decedent, unless such a stay or a continuance would unduly prejudice the rights of any other interested party.

(G)(1) If the court finds that a petition filed pursuant to this section meets all of the requirements set forth in this section, the court shall set the petition for hearing. Before the hearing the court may, but need not, do any of the following:

(a) Require that the coroner or any other party file and serve an answer to the petition;

(b) Grant to any party the right to conduct discovery under the Rules of Civil Procedure;

(c) Permit the filing of, and rule upon, any motions authorized by the Rules of Civil Procedure;

(d) Issue any order that the court considers necessary to a fair determination.

(2) At the hearing the petitioner shall have the burden of going forward with evidence and shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the death certificate or coroner's verdict is in error. The hearing shall be conducted without a jury and in accordance with the Rules of Evidence.

(H) A dismissal of a petition for failure to comply with any of the provisions of this section, or for failure of proof after a hearing, is a dismissal with prejudice to the filing of another petition related to the death certificate or coroner's verdict in question by all named petitioners and against all persons whose interest is in privity with any of the petitioners and all joined parties.

(I) If a party to an action brought under this section appeals the final decision of the court, the court of appeals shall do one of the following:

(a) If the final decision modifies the death certificate or coroner's verdict, conduct a review de novo;

(b) If the final decision affirms the correctness of the death certificate or coroner's verdict, determine whether the trial court abused its discretion with regard to an appealable matter and either affirm the decision or remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

(J) No change in a death certificate or coroner's verdict made pursuant to this section shall be the basis of a new trial for, or the withdrawal of any plea to, any offense related to the death of the decedent unless a court determines a change in a death certificate or coroner's verdict to be a proper basis in a criminal case for postconviction relief under sections 2953.21 to 2953.23 of the Revised Code.

(K) The prosecuting attorney may file a petition beyond the time period prescribed in division (E) of this section, or may file a subsequent or successive petition, upon the discovery of new evidence that, in the opinion of the prosecuting attorney, warrants such a filing in order to correct a manifest injustice. Any other interested party may file a petition beyond the time period prescribed in division (E) of this section only upon the discovery of new evidence that the petitioner was unavoidably prevented from discovering within that time period.

(L) Nothing in this section shall be construed or applied to give a person charged with an offense related to the death of the decedent any right to conduct discovery or to have access to discovery beyond that which the person is entitled under the law as applicable to a criminal prosecution.

Section 2. That existing section 313.19 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.

Section 3. This act is intended to be a remedial measure. It is the General Assembly's specific intent that those provisions of this act that prohibit a person who has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any offense related to the death of a decedent from maintaining an action under this act, unless and until the conviction is overturned, vacated, or otherwise set aside and the action overturning, vacating, or otherwise setting aside the conviction is not subject to further appeal or trial, as well as the provisions that require or permit a stay of proceedings on a petition during the pendancy of a criminal prosecution, proceeding for post-conviction relief, or appeal related to the death of the decedent, shall be applied retrospectively to all cases filed under section 313.19 of the Revised Code, whether or not the case is pending on the effective date of this act. All other provisions of this act shall govern all proceedings in actions brought after the effective date of this act and also all further proceedings in actions pending on that date, except if in the court's opinion the application of those provisions in a particular action would not be feasible or would cause injustice, in which event former procedures apply.