Lake County Court of Common Pleas, General Division Filing Rules

A continuance motion must include an order reserving a blank space for the court to insert the next appropriate court date.

Counsel must file a motion for appointment supported by a defendant-signed affidavit stating the facts of indigence when counsel has not been appointed at arraignment.

If counsel has not been appointed by arraignment, a motion for appointment must be filed with an affidavit of indigency.

Civil discovery materials may be filed only on court order, as evidence, or for motion consideration, and a single-page notice identifying the request or response, issuance date, and recipients must be filed.

A party seeking a collateral-benefits adjustment must file a motion with the assigned judge and a copy with the arbitration commissioner within ten days after the arbitration report and award is filed.

Unless a case-management order states otherwise, a default-judgment hearing is set 23 days after filing.

Responses to motions in limine are due no later than seven days before trial.

Trial briefs must be filed with the Clerk of Courts fourteen days before the scheduled trial date.

An electronic filing must include a certificate of service identifying the manner of service for each party entitled to service and using the specified certificate language.

Hearing notices and non-final appealable judgment entries must be emailed to counsel.

The attorney must serve the client with the motion to withdraw and document that service in the certificate of service.

Neither the written nor electronic jury instructions should be filed with the clerk unless filing is needed to preserve appellate rights.

A plaintiff must deposit sufficient funds to satisfy the clerk’s initial deposit requirement when a case is transferred because of limited jurisdiction or a change of forum.

Electronically filed documents, pleadings, and papers must be submitted to the clerk in PDF, except proposed orders.

Preliminary jury instructions must be submitted by email to CommonPleasIV@LakeCountyOhio.gov in Word or WordPerfect format.

Proposed instructions must be delivered to the court on a CD or by email one week before trial.

All exhibits must be marked for identification before trial, with plaintiff's exhibits numbered consecutively and defendant's exhibits lettered consecutively.

A party may request a trial continuance only by written motion complying with Superintendence Rule 41 and subject to court approval.

A defendant-signed time waiver must accompany any motion to continue filed for the defendant.

Filing a leave to plead, motion, or other pleading must not change the scheduled pretrial or trial dates.

Every continuance request must be written, state the reasons, and be signed by both the party and counsel.

Filings designated as discretionary eFile case types may be submitted through the eFiling system.

A completed status statement may be submitted to the court by email, fax, mail, or hand delivery, and all parties must be served.

Settled cases should be brought to the court's attention immediately by calling or e-mailing the court at the earliest opportunity.

The court must be notified immediately by telephone when a nolle prosequi is entered or the defendant wishes to change the plea.

Contact the Court’s Scheduler directly by phone to request a hearing or continuance or report a settlement.

Contact the Court’s Scheduler directly at 350-2662 to request a hearing, request a continuance, or report a settlement.

The filing party and counsel must redact personal and private information from filed documents, including attached exhibits and addenda.

Filing parties and counsel must redact personal and private information, including social security numbers and full financial account numbers, before filing; unredacted documents may be stricken.

Objections, opposition briefs, and reply briefs are each limited to 10 pages unless the court grants prior leave.

After the initial pleadings, the body or text of any motion, brief, or memorandum is limited to 10 pages.

The body or text of documents is limited to ten pages, except for complaints, counterclaims, crossclaims, and third-party complaints.

A copy of the identified and indexed trial documents and exhibits must be provided to the judge’s office.

Two copies of the exhibit list must be delivered to the Court on the day of trial.