Rules of the Court

(A) Filing. All pleadings, motions, and other documents in either civil or criminal cases may be filed directly with the Clerk of Court during regular Court hours. All pleadings, motions, or other documents filed by mail shall be deemed filed as of the date of receipt by the Clerk of Court and when accompanied by the appropriate filing fee.

(B) Filing by Fax or Email.

(1) Filing. All pleadings, motions, and other documents other than the original complaint, third-party complaint, or any other pleading that joins or adds a new party, may be transmitted to the court by fax or email.

(2) Fax Filing. All documents filed with the Court by fax must be done directly through the Lakewood Court's fax machine at (216) 529-7687, or some other telephone number and fax machine specifically ordered by the Court. Documents indirectly transmitted through some other fax machine and indirectly presented to the Clerk of Court may not be accepted in place of the original unless specifically ordered by the Court.

(3) Email Filing. All documents filed with the Court by email must be sent directly to the Lakewood Court’s email address at lakewoodcourt@lakewoodcourtoh.gov. If any filing submitted under this subsection exceeds 10 pages, a hard copy must also be provided to the Court. The Clerk’s office will not print any document exceeding 10 pages. No hard copy is required for an email filing that is exactly 10 pages or less.

(4) Valid Email Address Required. All fax and email filings must contain a valid email address to which court notices, responses, and other correspondence may be sent. By filing via fax or email, consent to receive all court communications by email is implied.

(C) Costs. The party filing a document by fax or email shall be responsible for all costs of the transmission. There is no separate charge for these types of filing. The party is still responsible, however, for all filing fees associated with the filing of the document. The filing fee is required to be paid within five (5) days of the receipt of the document filed by fax or email. Failure to timely pay the filing fees may result in the clerk's striking the document from the record.

(D) Legibility. All documents filed with the Clerk of Court by fax or email must be legible when received. The Clerk may reject any illegible document, in whole or part, and upon doing so, shall promptly notify the sender of the condition or quality of the document.

(E) Hours for Filing. All documents that are submitted to the Court must be received by the Clerk of Court during the regular office hours as set out in these rules. Any document received after4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, shall be deemed received for filing the next business day. For this local rule, the 4:00 p.m. time limit shall be determined by the notation on the Court’s fax machine or the Court’s email address unless otherwise ordered by the Court.

(F) Format of Filings. The Court retains the right to stipulate the form and format of all filings.