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.  

(B) Filing by Facsimile Transmission.

(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 facsimile transmission.

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

(C) Electronic Filing. (Reserved.) The Court is currently establishing standards and guidelines for electronic filing of pleadings, motions, and other court documents and orders.

(D) Costs. The party filing a document by facsimile transmission 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 electronically or by facsimile transmission. Failure to timely pay the filing fees may result in the clerk's striking the document from the record.

(E) Legibility. All documents filed with the Clerk of Court by facsimile transmission 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.

(F) 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 after 4:00 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 facsimile machine or the Court’s email address unless otherwise ordered by the Court.

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