Stark County Court of Common Pleas, General Division Document Format Requirements
27 rules from official source documents
Font, margin, spacing, and file format requirements for court filings. This page is scoped to Stark County Court of Common Pleas, General Division; use the court rules overview to switch categories without leaving this court.
Attorneys must include their Ohio Supreme Court attorney registration number on every document filed with the General Division.
Attorneys are required to include their attorney registration number issued by the Supreme Court of Ohio on all documents filed with the General Division.
All pleadings and motions must be legible, double-spaced, and submitted on letter-size paper.
All pleadings and motions must be legible, double-spaced and formatted in letter size (8 ½ X 11).
Every filed pleading, motion, brief, or other document must identify the filing attorney or party and provide the stated counsel contact information.
Every pleading, motion, brief or other document filed in a cause shall be identified by title and shall bear the name of the individual attorney; the attorney registration number assigned by the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Ohio; the firm, if any; office address; email address; and telephone number and fax number of counsel filing the same.
A self-represented party must provide the applicable filing and contact information when no counsel is present.
If there is no counsel, the same applicable information is required of the party filing the document.
A signed source document may be faxed with the signature or, if in the filer's possession or control, with an /s/ notation followed by the signer's name.
A party who wishes to file a signed source document by fax shall do either of the following: 1. fax a copy of the signed source document; or 2. fax a copy of the document without the signature but with the notation "/s/" followed by the name of the signing person where the signature appears in the signed source document and it is in his or her possession or control.
A single pleading cannot be divided among multiple facsimile transmissions to comply with the ten-page facsimile-filing limit.
A single pleading may not be divided into multiple facsimile transmissions in order to qualify under the ten page limit for facsimile filings.
A civil stalking protection-order action must be commenced by filing a fully completed petition that is typed or legibly printed.
An action for a Civil Stalking Protection Order pursuant to R.C. 2903.214 shall be commenced by the filing of a fully completed petition, typed or legibly printed.
Individual documents may be stapled in the upper-left corner, but multiple documents may not be stapled together or to their submission envelopes.
WHILE INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED TO THE COURT MAY BE STAPLED IN THE UPPER LEFTHAND CORNER, MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS SHALL NOT BE STAPLED TO EACH OTHER OR TO THE ENVELOPES THAT ARE SUBMITTED WITH THEM.
Motions must be written, and the Court will not consider oral motions.
All motions must be made in writing. The Court will not consider oral motions.
All motions and briefs must be double-spaced, and noncompliant filings may be stricken.
No brief in support of a motion or responsive brief, excluding appendices and table of cases, shall exceed twenty (20) pages, unless, upon motion requesting an increase of a specific number of pages and the showing of good cause, this Court orders otherwise. No reply brief shall exceed twelve (12) pages. All motions and briefs shall be double-spaced. Any motion or brief which does not comply with the aforementioned directions may be stricken by the Court.
The plaintiff must number exhibits, the defendant must letter them, multiple-party exhibit labels must include the party’s last name, and defendant exhibits beyond twenty-six must use double letters.
exhibits with numbers and the defendant shall mark exhibits with letters. If there are multiple parties, numbers or letters shall be used followed by the parties’ last name, i.e., “1-Miller” or “A-Jones”. If the defendant has more than twenty-six (26) exhibits, double letters shall be used, i.e. AA, BB, CC, etc.
- Format
- DOCX
In all jury cases, proposed jury instructions, interrogatories, and verdict forms must be emailed to Magistrate Stephan Babik in Microsoft Word format at least one week before trial.
(20) In all jury cases, any proposed jury instructions, interrogatories, and verdict forms shall be submitted to the Court at least one (1) week before the scheduled trial via e-mail to Magistrate Stephan Babik at spbabik@starkcountyohio.gov in Microsoft Word format.
Transcripts prepared by official court reporters must have 25 lines per page and use pica type or Times New Roman for computer-aided transcription.
(A) 25 lines to a page, pica type or Times New Roman if prepared by computer aided transcription;
Question-and-answer text must begin 15 spaces from the left margin, and speaker identifications must use uppercase letters.
(B) Q & A to be 15 spaces from the left hand margin and identification of the speaker should be in upper case letters;
The body of a question or answer must be indented 21 spaces from the left margin, and paragraph indentation must be 30 spaces.
(C) the indentation for the body of the question or answer should be 21 spaces from the left hand margin and paragraph indentation should be 30 spaces from the left hand margin;
The transcript’s right margin must be five spaces from the right edge.
(D) the right hand margin is to be 5 spaces from the right hand edge;
Every transcript must include an index of proceedings and exhibits.
(E) an index to proceedings and exhibits is to be included in all transcripts.
A transcript or proceeding filed with the court must bear the name and address of the court reporter who prepared it.
Transcripts or proceedings filed in the Court shall bear the name and address of the reporter making up the same.
Motions, responses, and replies must be titled according to the prescribed motion, response, and reply formats.
All motions, responses, and replies shall be filed and titled in the following manner:
Discussion of an interrogatory objection must be submitted on a separate page with an appropriate caption, while the objection itself is noted below the interrogatory.
An objection to an interrogatory will be noted as such below the particular interrogatory, but discussion thereon, must be submitted on a separate page with appropriate caption.
Plaintiff must number exhibits, defendant must letter exhibits, multiple-party exhibits must also include the party’s last name, and counsel must share marked exhibits at least two working days before trial.
Plaintiff will mark exhibits using numbers and Defendant will mark exhibits using letters. If there are multiple parties, the party’s last name (in addition to the number or letter) will be used. Counsel will share marked exhibits with each other at least two working days before trial.
Exhibits must be marked before trial with official stickers, using party-specific numbers or letters and double letters when the defendant has more than 26 exhibits.
All exhibits shall be marked before trial with official exhibit stickers. Plaintiff shall mark exhibits with numbers and Defendant shall mark exhibits with letters. If there are multiple parties, numbers or letters shall be used followed by the party’s last name (i.e. “1- Miller,” or “A-Jones”). If Defendant has more than twenty-six (26) exhibits, double letters shall be used (i.e., AA, BB, CC, etc.).
All exhibits must be marked before trial with official stickers, using numbers for plaintiff exhibits and letters for defendant exhibits.
All exhibits shall be marked before trial with official exhibit stickers. The Plaintiff shall mark exhibits with numbers and the Defendant shall mark exhibits with letters.
With multiple parties, exhibit numbers or letters must be followed by the party's last name.
If there are multiple parties, numbers or letters shall be used followed by the party’s last name (i.e. “1-Miller,” or “A-Jones”).
If the defendant has more than 26 exhibits, double-letter exhibit designations must be used.
If the Defendant has more than twenty-six (26) exhibits, double letters shall be used (i.e., AA, BB, CC, etc.).
- Format
- DOCX
Trial briefs, proposed jury instructions, and jury interrogatories should be emailed to Magistrate Julie Everett before the final pretrial and submitted in Word format.
Trial briefs (if filed), Proposed Jury Instructions, and Jury Interrogatories should be submitted prior to the final pretrial via email to Magistrate Julie Everett at jaeverett@starkcountyohio.gov. All submissions should be in Word format.
All exhibits must be marked with official exhibit stickers before trial.
All exhibits shall be marked before trial with official exhibit stickers.
What formatting rules apply to filings in Stark County Court of Common Pleas, General Division?
Stark County Court of Common Pleas, General Division's formatting rule includes double spacing and any motion or brief that does not comply with the stated directions may be stricken by the court.. All motions and briefs must be double-spaced, and noncompliant filings may be stricken.
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