Common Pleas Court Judges

Courtroom Decorum

THE COURTROOM IS A PLACE OF RESPECT. All individuals appearing in Court are to treat all other individuals in Court with respect without regard to race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. The objective of the Court is to ensure that parties have timely access to the judicial system. The Court takes a "hands on" approach and will make itself available to the parties at the earliest opportunity.

Civil Case Management Order

In accordance with Civ.R. 26(F), the attorneys shall confer prior to a scheduled Case Management Conference (“CMC”) to discuss claims and possible defenses, the possibilities for resolving and/or settling the case, create a discovery plan, and establish a proposed case schedule. During the CMC, the Court will review the parties’ proposed discovery plan and make any amendments it deems appropriate. Generally, the Court will allow between 90-120 days for full discovery to be completed, depending on the complexity of the case. During the CMC, the Court will also establish dates for the discovery deadline, expert report(s), dispositive motions, pretrial, final pretrial, and trial. Where applicable, the Court will refer cases for mediation or arbitration based upon the recommendations of the parties. The parties should not wait for the CMC before beginning to conduct discovery. Initial paper discovery including interrogatories and requests for production of documents should be served prior to the CMC.

Trial dates are firm. The Court is not inclined to continue trial dates absent exigent circumstances. Continuances and extensions may be granted only for good cause shown. Extensions of court-ordered deadlines may be requested by motion, preferably in the form of a joint or unopposed motion. Prior to filing a motion seeking an extension, you are required to consult with your opposing counsel and state in your motion your opposing counsel's position on the extension request.
Dispositive motions will be ruled on no less than thirty (30) days prior to the scheduled trial date. In an instance where the court is unable to rule on the dispositive motion at least thirty (30) days prior to the scheduled trial date, the court will automatically continue the trial date for at least sixty (60) days. If either party moves for and is granted an extension of the briefing schedule which in turn extends the court's ruling date, then no automatic continuance of the trial date will be given. The Court reserves the right to hold an oral hearing on the record for any motion once the motion is fully briefed.
In the event that an attorney of record moves to withdraw as counsel for a party, the Court will typically grant such a motion upon the filing of a notice of appearance of new counsel for that party. However, the new counsel of record is expected to comply with the Court’s existing case management order and withdrawal of counsel, by itself, is insufficient to warrant a continuance of these established dates.

Default Judgment
Upon filing of a motion for default judgment, the Court will schedule a default hearing. The movant must file, prior to the hearing, the following: affidavit of proof of service of the Complaint, affidavit of damages, a proposed judgment entry, and a copy of the letter sent regular and certified mail ten (10) days prior to the hearing date notifying all parties of the hearing and that failure to appear will result in judgment against them, evidence of military service status of the defendant pursuant to the servicemembers’ civil relief act, and the contract(s), assignment(s), or written instrument(s) upon which Plaintiff seeks judgment. The Court may require additional evidence/testimony that it deems necessary pursuant to Civ. R. 55. Failure to file all required documents prior to the default hearing may result in dismissal without prejudice for failure to prosecute, pursuant to Civ.R. 41(B)(1).

Civil Settlement Conferences
All parties with full settlement authority and their counsel, including out-of-town parties or adjusters, must be present in person at the settlement conference to engage in settlement negotiations with the Court.

The failure to bring a representative with full, final, and immediate settlement authority shall constitute a violation of this standing order and may result in sanctions including, but not limited to, an award of costs and attorney fees incurred by the other parties in connection with the conference, as well as other appropriate sanctions against the non-complying party and/or counsel.

The Court favors broad and open discovery.  The parties are encouraged to settle any discovery dispute amongst themselves before filling a motion with the Court (motions to compel, motions for a protective order, etc.) Before filing a Motion to Compel with the Court, the parties shall contact the Court’s Staff Attorney and request a status conference with the Court to discuss the discovery dispute.

In the event that a case has settled, the parties are to notify the Court as soon as practicable after a settlement agreement has been reached. The parties are to submit a joint Notice of Dismissal indicating which party will bear the court costs of the action within 30 days of the settlement agreement.

Trial Briefs

All parties are required to serve and file a trial brief which shall contain: a succinct statement of their claims (as presented in the pleadings); a brief statement of the essential and material facts; the legal issues involved; the stipulations agreed upon by the parties; the type and amount of damages they are seeking; and an estimate of how long it will take to put on their case in chief. Trial briefs shall be submitted fourteen (14) days before trial, and shall be no longer than three (3) pages in length.

Witness and Exhibit Lists

The parties shall exchange, serve, and file witness lists which shall include the witnesses' names and a very brief statement outlining the substance of each witness' expected testimony. The parties shall exchange, serve, and file a list of trial exhibits. Trial exhibits shall be pre-marked with exhibit stickers and exchanged. Plaintiffs shall mark their exhibits using numbers; defendants shall mark their exhibits using letters. The parties are required to provide the court with a copy of all of the above items fourteen (14) days before trial.

Motions in Limine

Motions in Limine must be in writing and filed at least fourteen (14) days before trial.  A brief in opposition is due seven (7) days after the motion in limine is filed. The Court will not consider any motion filed less than 14 days prior to trial absent exigent circumstances. Untimely motions and/or briefs may be stricken by the Court. The Court may schedule a hearing on the Motion(s) in Limine no later than five (5) days before trial.

Jury Instructions, Interrogatories, Verdict Forms

Fourteen (14) days prior to trial, the parties shall file joint jury instructions, interrogatories, and verdict forms. The Court prefers that the jury instructions conform to OJI, or the parties cite to published Ohio cases. The jury instructions shall be relevant to the specific issues to be presented at trial. All instructions should be short, concise, understandable and neutral statements of law. The Court will not consider proposed jury instructions that are deemed argumentative or which otherwise do not conform to the above requirements. If the parties are unable to agree on any of the jury instructions, they shall clearly delineate, in one set of instructions, which instructions are agreed to and which are not. The joint jury instructions, interrogatories, and verdict forms must be filed with the court at least fourteen (14) days before trial.

Proposed jury instructions, including the stipulated statement of the case, jury interrogatories, and verdict forms, are to be provided to the Court in a Microsoft Word document via email sent to the Court’s Staff Attorney.