Ohio Code 2303.12 – Records to be kept by clerk; online access
(A) As used in this section:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2303.12
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
- Probate: Proving a will
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(1) “Case file” means the compendium of original documents filed in a civil action or proceeding in the court of common pleas, including the pleadings, motions, orders, and judgments of the court on a case by case basis.
(2) “General docket” means the appearance docket, trial docket, journal, execution docket, and case files in relation to those dockets and journal.
(B) The clerk of the court of common pleas shall keep records as indicated by the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio. They shall be called the appearance docket, trial docket and printed duplicates of the trial docket for the use of the court and the officers thereof, journal, and execution docket. The clerk shall also keep a record in book form or the clerk may prepare a record by using any photostatic, photographic, miniature photographic, film, microfilm, or microphotographic process, electrostatic process, perforated tape, magnetic tape, or other electromagnetic means, electronic data processing, machine readable media, graphic or video display, or any combination thereof, which correctly and accurately copies or reproduces every case file and other original document, paper, or instrument in writing. The clerk shall keep an index to the trial docket and to the printed duplicates of the trial docket and of the journal direct, and to the appearance docket, record, and execution docket, direct and reverse. All clerks keeping records and information by the methods described in this section shall keep and make readily available to the public the machine and equipment necessary to reproduce the records and information in a readable form.
(C) The clerk of the court of common pleas shall keep confidential information that is subject to a real property confidentiality notice under section 111.431 of the Revised Code, in accordance with that section.
(D)(1) Subject to division (D)(2) of this section, not later than eighteen months after the effective date of this amendment, the clerk of court shall make available online on the clerk of court’s web site the general docket of the court for remote access and printing by the public of the information in that docket, including all individual documents in each case file, pertaining to civil cases filed on or after the effective date of this amendment.
(2) The clerk of court is not required to make available online under division (D)(1) of this section either of the following:
(a) The general docket of the division of domestic relations, the juvenile court, or the probate court;
(b) If the court does not have a division of domestic relations, the general docket in civil cases pertaining to domestic relations.
(E) Nothing in division (D) of this section shall be construed as making available online any of the following:
(1) Internal documents such as notes, emails, drafts, recommendations, advice, or research of judicial officers and court staff;
(2) Any document or any information in a case file the public access to which the court has ordered restricted under the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio.
Last updated February 23, 2023 at 9:11 AM