The Painesville Municipal Court hereby adopts the following Rules of Court for the handling of cases and management of the Court. These Rules are adopted pursuant to the authority of the Rules of Superintendence for Municipal and County Courts, Rule 5 and are intended to include a case management program pursuant to Rule 5B1 and Local Fax Filing Rules.

These Rules are intended to supplement and complement the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Ohio Traffic Rules, the Rules of Superintendence for Municipal and County Courts, and other controlling rules and statutes in the application and administration in proceedings in the Court.

These Rules shall be applied, construed and enforced so as to avoid inconsistency with other rules of court and statutes governing proceedings, functions and services of this Court. In their application and administration they shall be construed and employed so as to provide fairness and simplicity in procedure, to avoid technical and unjustifiable delay, and to secure just, expeditious and inexpensive determination of all actions and proceedings.

These Rules shall apply to all parties, counsel of record and subject matter of all actions, civil, criminal or traffic filed on and after the effective date hereof.

The offices of the Court shall be open between the hours of 8:00 o’clock A.M. and 4:30 o’clock P.M., Monday through Friday and 4:30 o’clock P.M. to 6:00 o’clock P.M. every Wednesday (traffic division only).* These hours may be extended or diminished by Order of the Court from time to time.

*NO CIVIL FILINGS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Motions for Continuance shall be submitted to the Court in writing at least seven (7) days in advance of the scheduled hearing, and must contain a brief in support setting forth the reasons requiring the continuance, along with a proposed Order for the Court’s review and approval. No continuance will be granted by phone.

When a continuance is sought for the reason that counsel is scheduled to appear in another case assigned for trial or hearing on the same date in another court in the State, the movant shall attach to his or her motion, a copy of the Notice received from the other court, along with a copy of the Notice received from this Court. Motions for Continuance sought due to a conflict in hearing or trial schedules shall be decided in accordance with Rule 41 (B) of the Rules of Superintendence for Municipal and County Courts.

Motions for Continuance submitted after the aforementioned seven (7) day period may be granted upon the showing of good cause constituting extreme hardship, unforeseen circumstances or other unavoidable conditions.

A proposed Judgment Entry must accompany all Motions for Continuance.

All criminal cases wherein the defendant pleads “not guilty” at the initial appearance or the case is not otherwise disposed of, shall be immediately set for a pretrial conference. The notice of the pretrial conference date shall be personally delivered to the defendant and/or his attorney prior to leaving court.

The defendant and his attorney shall be required to personally appear at the pretrial conference unless expressly excused by Court Order. All cases which are not disposed of at the conclusion of the pretrial conference shall be set for trial unless specifically indicated otherwise by the Court. Prior to leaving the Court at the conclusion of the pretrial conference, a notice of the trial date shall be personally delivered to the defendant and/or his attorney.

All trials shall be scheduled before the Court unless the defendant files a timely jury demand or otherwise is accorded a right to trial by jury pursuant to law.

All Motions shall be made in accordance with Criminal Rule 12. Any motion which, by its nature, is capable of determination without hearing shall be ruled on without hearing.

All criminal cases shall be heard only at the regularly scheduled date and time. Defendants may appear for hearing or disposition of their case at a time other than the regularly scheduled date and time only upon written motion filed in advance with the Court.

When the prosecutor desires to dismiss a criminal charge, he shall file a written application therefore pursuant to the provisions of the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule No. 48. The prosecutor shall state in a written application the reasons for the requested dismissal. A criminal charge may only be dismissed by the State by leave of court pursuant to this Rule.

1. Pursuant to the authority of Ohio Traffic Rule 13 and Criminal Rule 4.1 there is hereby established at the Painesville Municipal Court, a Traffic Violations Bureau. The Clerk of Court is hereby appointed as the Violations Clerk.


2. The purpose of the Violations Bureau shall be to accept appearance, waiver of trial, plea of guilty and payment of fine and costs for offenses within the authority of the Violations Bureau.


3. The Court hereby establishes and publishes a schedule of fines and costs for all offenses subject to the authority of the Violations Bureau. This schedule is attached hereto and marked Exhibit B and shall be distributed to all law enforcement agencies operating within the jurisdiction of the Court and shall be prominently displayed at the payment window of the Violations Bureau at the Court.


4. The Violations Bureau shall have authority to dispose of all traffic offenses and minor misdemeanor offenses except for the following offenses:
   1. Indictable Offenses.
   2. Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or any Drug of Abuse.
   3. Leaving the Scene of an Accident.
   4. Driving While Under Suspension or Revocation of Driver’s License.
   5. Driving without being licensed to drive, except where the driver’s or commercial driver’s license had been expired for six months or less.
   6. A third moving traffic offense within a 12 month period.
   7. Failure to stop and remain standing upon meeting or overtaking a school bus stopped on the highway for purpose of receiving or discharging a school child.
   8. Willfully eluding or fleeing a police officer.
   9. Drag Racing
   10. Wrongful Entrustment


5. The procedure for a defendant’s appearance, plea and waiver of trial at the Violations Bureau shall be as set forth in Traffic Rule 13(D).

Pursuant to the provisions of the Non-Resident Violator compact, any police officer issuing a traffic citation or minor misdemeanor citation to a resident of a member jurisdiction shall not require the violator to post collateral to secure his appearance if the arresting officer receives the violator’s signed personal recognizance that he or she will comply with the summons. Any police officer issuing a citation to a non-resident motorist from a compact member jurisdiction for one of the following offenses shall not accept the violator’s personal recognizance but shall instead require the violator to post security in accordance with the attached bond schedule or in lieu thereof take the violator into custody and hold the violator in custody for an immediate appearance in Court at the first available court session:

1. Indictable Offenses.
2. Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or any Drug of Abuse.
3. Leaving the Scene of an Accident.
4. Driving While Under Suspension or Revocation of Driver’s License.
5. Driving Without Being Licensed to Drive, except where the driver’s or commercial driver’s license had been expired for six months or less.
6. Willfully eluding or fleeing a police officer.
7. Drag Racing.
8. Wrongful Entrustment

Any law enforcement officer issuing a traffic citation or minor misdemeanor citation to a violator who is not a resident of Ohio but is a resident of a state which is not a signator to the Non-Resident Violator Compact shall require the violator to post security in accordance with the attached bond schedule or, in lieu thereof, shall take the violator into custody and hold the violator in custody for an immediate appearance in Court at the first available court session.

Any law enforcement officer issuing a traffic citation or minor misdemeanor citation to a violator who is resident of the State of Ohio shall not require the violator to post collateral to secure his appearance if the arresting officer receives the violator’s signed personal recognizance that the violator will comply with the summons. Provided, however, any such violator who has been charged with one of the following offenses shall instead be required to post security in accordance with the attached bond schedule or, in lieu thereof, the violator shall be taken into custody and held for an immediate appearance in Court at the first available court session:

1. Indictable Offenses.
2. Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or any Drug of Abuse.
3. Leaving the Scene of an Accident.
4. Driving While Under Suspension or Revocation of Driver’s License.
5. Driving Without Being Licensed to Drive, except where the driver’s or commercial driver’s license had been expired for six months or less.
6. Willfully eluding or fleeing a police officer.
7. Drag Racing.
8. Wrongful Entrustment.

The date of any defendant’s initial appearance on a traffic citation shall not be continued by the Court unless the defendant files a written motion with the Court in advance of the appearance date along with a brief memorandum or statement of facts setting forth the reasons requiring the continuance.

The provisions of this local rule are adopted under Civ.R. 5(E), Civ.R. 73(J) and Crim.R. 12 (B).

Pleadings and other papers may be filed with the Clerk of Court by facsimile transmission to (440) 352-0028 subject to the following conditions:

Pursuant to Rule 3F of the Ohio Traffic Rules the use of electronically produced tickets is hereby permitted provided that the ticket conforms in all substantive respects, including lay-out and content, to the “Ohio Uniform Traffic Ticket”.

Further if a ticket is issued at the scene of an alleged offense, the issuing officer shall provide the defendant with a paper copy of the ticket.

Any law enforcement officer who files a ticket electronically shall be considered to have certified the ticket and shall have the same rights, responsibilities, and liabilities as with all other tickets issued pursuant to the Ohio Traffic Rules.

The Painesville Municipal Court adopts the Record Management and Retention Schedule Pursuant to rule 26 of the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio.

Please refer to the Criminal & Traffic Court Costs