Ohio veterans with a 100% service-connected disability who were wrongly charged for specialty military license plates are about to get their money back, after the Ohio Court of Claims approved a preliminary class-action settlement in the case Kacin v. Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The deal covers anyone who bought a specialty military plate at a deputy registrar office on or after October 17, 2019, despite being legally exempt from the registration taxes and fees the state charged them.
The settlement traces back to a lawsuit lead plaintiff Jack Kacin, a retired U.S. Army veteran who is 100% permanently disabled from a service-connected injury, filed against the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles in the Ohio Court of Claims on March 17, 2023, according to WSYX3, which reported that Kacin sought relief on behalf of all disabled veterans charged fees for military plates after that October 2019 date. The case sat in limbo for years, with trial court judges initially refusing to grant it class-action status, before the Tenth District Court of Appeals of Ohio reversed that decision on December 30, 2025, ruling that the BMV's retention of registration fees from eligible disabled veterans was unjust as a matter of law, according to court records cited by Justia. That appellate reversal is what ultimately pushed the state to the negotiating table.
A Legal Waiver the BMV Failed to Honor
Ohio law has long spelled out that veterans with a 100% service-connected disability should not be paying these charges. Ohio Revised Code Sections 4503.41 and 4503.29 mandate that these veterans are exempt from vehicle registration fees, service fees, local motor vehicle taxes, and transfer fees, per the state's own Ohio Laws code, and the waiver applies to both standard disabled veteran plates and specialty military plates. That framework grew out of House Bill 194, created in 2018 to honor veterans' service, which was later amended to require the BMV to waive registration taxes and fees for veterans with a 100% service-connected disability.
Despite that clear statutory language, the BMV kept charging the full amount for specialty military plates. Internal correspondence as late as May 2022 shows the agency acknowledged disabled veterans were being charged for specialty plates but said only that it was “working to get the issue resolved,” without issuing immediate refunds, per the same court records reviewed by Justia. Deposition exhibits in the case pointed to administrative delay in actually implementing the waivers the law required.
What Veterans Need to Do to Claim a Refund
Under the terms of the settlement, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles will refund all registration taxes and fees paid by eligible class members, and those refunds will not be reduced by any administrative expenses — the BMV is covering all costs tied to notice and settlement administration itself. Eligible class members must submit a declaration of eligibility along with documentation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs confirming their 100% service-connected disability status.
Class members will receive notice by direct mail and email, and settlement notices will also be physically posted at deputy registrar offices and county veterans service organizations throughout the state, according to the Van Wert Independent. Local county veterans service offices are expected to help veterans verify their VA ratings as part of that process.
Attorneys Say the State Is Being Held to Its Word
Co-lead class counsel on the case includes DannLaw and Zimmerman Law Offices, P.C. Attorney Marc Dann said the state of Ohio made veterans a promise, and the settlement holds the state to that promise, adding that every dollar wrongly charged to these veterans will be returned to them. DannLaw's team on the case also includes Jeffrey A. Crossman and Brian D. Flick, while Zimmerman Law Offices is represented by Thomas A. Zimmerman, Jr.
This is not the first time DannLaw and Zimmerman Law Offices have taken on the Ohio BMV over improper fees. The two firms previously sued the agency in Madyda v. BMV, a 2018 class action over $3 million in unperformed $1.50 driver's license lamination fees charged to more than two million Ohioans, according to DannLaw. That earlier case established the same legal team as repeat litigators against the agency over unauthorized consumer charges.
How Many Veterans Could Be Affected
The reach of this settlement could be significant. Roughly 192,270 Ohio veterans — about 30% of the state's total veteran population — receive VA disability compensation, according to data cited by Hill and Ponton, P.A. The registration fee waiver is just one piece of a broader set of state benefits available to fully disabled veterans, which also includes free state driver's licenses and an Enhanced Homestead Exemption that shields $58,000 of a primary residence's appraised value from property taxes.
Veterans seeking those additional state benefits typically need to submit VA award summary letters as proof of their disability rating, the same source notes. For now, the exact total dollar amount the BMV will end up refunding statewide has not been disclosed, and it remains unclear how quickly the Ohio Court of Claims will move toward final settlement approval once the class notice period concludes.
