Common Pleas Court Judges

Case Management Conferences

Counsel for plaintiff(s) shall inform all opposing counsel and unrepresented parties of the date and time of the case management conference. Any attorney or unrepresented party who is not available will be deemed to have waived his/her participation and to have accepted the case scheduling order established by the court.

Prior to the CMC, parties must exchange initial disclosures pursuant to Ohio Civ. R. 26(b)(3) and draft a proposed discovery plan pursuant to Ohio Civ. R. 26(f). Counsel shall file with the court the proposed discovery plan and notice of initial disclosures at least 24 hours in advance of the CMC. If the parties are unable to confer, plaintiff shall provide evidence with the court of efforts to comply with this order.

Failure to do so will result in dismissal of the case without prejudice for want of prosecution.

All Case Management Conferences are conducted by telephone. Failure of the Plaintiff to appear at the CMC will result in a dismissal without prejudice. At that time all dates and deadlines will be established. Alternate Dispute Resolution is looked at in all appropriate cases. Failure to appear at any court hearing or event may result in the dismissal of Plaintiff’s complaint for want of prosecution or judgment rendered against the Defendant. All requests to the Court must be in the form of a motion and served upon all parties. Service must be obtained on all parties pursuant to Civil Rule 4(e) or the case will be dismissed as to that party for lack of service.

Admission of Out-of-State Attorneys

Where leave has been granted for an attorney to appear pro hac vice (“nonresident attorney”), local counsel of this state shall examine and cosign all motions, pleadings and other papers prepared by the nonresident attorney. Local counsel must appear at all oral hearings and in-person hearings with the nonresident attorney. The nonresident attorney must provide the Clerk of Courts with all contact information, including address, phone number and e-mail. Service of orders, motions, pleadings and any other papers upon the nonresident attorney shall also be served upon local counsel. Service of orders, motions, pleadings and any other papers upon local counsel shall be deemed service on the nonresident attorney. Knowledge of the local rules shall be imputed upon the nonresident attorney.

Protection Orders

Parties are encouraged to confer among themselves and to come to an agreement regarding the confidentiality of documents during the exchange of discovery.

If seeking to file an agreed upon confidential document, a party must file a motion to determine if the document may be filed under seal.  A ruling on that motion will be determined on a case-by-case- basis.

Most pre-trials are conducted in person with all parties present.

This court strictly construes time allowed on motions/pleadings. All time limitations are calculated on a calendar-day basis. Reply Briefs can be filed without prior court approval. No responses to the Reply Briefs will be accepted.

Courtesy copies of Dispositive Motions must be walked up to the Judge’s chambers on the date of filing.

If the Defendant is served but does not answer or respond to the Complaint, Plaintiff must timely file the Motion for Default Judgment or the Complaint will be dismissed for want of prosecution.

This court expects all parties to participate in discovery in good faith and cooperate with each other prior to the submission of any discovery motions.

This court adheres to Civil Rule 26(3) regarding initial disclosures by a party. Without awaiting a discovery request, a party must provide to the other parties, except as exempted by Civ. R. 26(B)(3)(b) or as otherwise stipulated, or ordered by the court:

(i) the name and, if known, the address and telephone number of each individual likely to have discoverable information - along with the subjects of that information - that the disclosing party may use to support its claims or defenses, unless the use would be solely for impeachment;

(ii) a copy - or a description by category and location - of all documents, electronically stored information, and tangible things that the disclosing party has in its possession, custody, or control and may use to support its claims or defenses, unless the use would be solely for impeachment;

(iii) a computation of each category of damages claimed by the disclosing party - who must also make available for inspection and copying as under Civ. R. 34 the documents or other evidentiary material, unless privileged or protected from disclosure, on which each computation is based, including materials bearing on the nature and extent of injuries suffered; and

(iv) for inspection and copying as under Civ. R. 34, any insurance agreement under which an insurance business may be liable to satisfy all or part of a possible judgment in the action or to indemnify or reimburse for payments made to satisfy the judgment.

A party must make the initial disclosures no later than the parties’ first pre-trial or case management conference, unless a different time is set by stipulation or court order, or unless a party objects. In ruling on the objection, the court must determine what disclosures, if any, are to be made and must set the time for disclosure.

A party that is first served or otherwise joined after the first pre-trial or case management conference must make the initial disclosures within 30 days after being served or joined, unless a different time is set by stipulation or court order.

Settlement conferences will be set by the court at the court’s discretion or upon the request of the parties.

All requests for continuances must be in the form of a motion, walked up to the 23A on the date of filing, and served on all parties.  Additionally, the request must be filed on or before the date of the existing deadline.

The trial orders will be given to the parties thirty days before trial.

All trial briefs; Proposed Stipulations as to undisputed facts, reserving any objections as to relevance; Exhibits; Jury Instructions; Jury Interrogatories; and Motions in Limine are due no later than two (2) weeks prior to trial and courtesy copies shall be provided to the court.

Stipulations as to the authenticity of all documents/exhibits shall be agreed upon unless credible evidence to the contrary exists.

All parties, counsel of record, and adjusters to be present in person with full settlement authority for final settlement conference one-half hour before trial.

Exhibits shall be bound and marked before trial and submitted to the court no later than two weeks prior to trial.  Each party shall include as one of their exhibits the curriculum vitae of any expert(s) that may be called to present evidence or testimony at trial for the use of the court.

Witnesses or exhibits not listed in the trial brief shall not testify or be introduced at trial absent a showing of good cause.

Complete trial briefs shall be filed and delivered to the Court's chambers by no later than two weeks prior to trial.  A complete trial brief includes:

-A statement of the facts;

-A discussion of the controlling law;

-A list of proposed witnesses along with a brief description of the subject matter of the testimony of each witness;

-An index of all proposed exhibits containing a brief description of each exhibit; and

-A discussion of any evidentiary issues likely to arise at trial.

-Trial briefs shall also include any unique or sensitive proposed voir dire questions (traditional or boilerplate voir dire questions need not be provided).

Counsel must file a list of all filed deposition transcripts that are to be utilized at trial by no later than two (2) weeks prior to trial.  Absent a showing of good cause, counsel must confer and present a list of all objections for which a ruling is desired as well as a list of withdrawn objections on said date.  Failure to submit said list shall result in waiver of all objections.

A party seeking to have videotaped testimony utilized at trial must retain a videographer for the playback at trial.

Counsel shall submit joint proposed jury instructions for each claim, counterclaim and/or cross-claim contained in the pleadings with applicable O.J.I. or case citations, as well as verdict forms and any interrogatories. In addition to jointly filing the above documents, parties shall file a joint list of stipulated facts.

If the parties are unable to agree on stipulations, jury instructions , jury interrogatories, and verdict forms, the court will hold a trial preparation hearing the Friday before trial at 11:00 am in Courtroom 23-A. It is the responsibility of plaintiff's counsel to submit the joint document by no later than two (2) weeks prior to trial. If the document is not filed jointly due to disagreement of the parties, each party shall file their proposed instructions, stipulations, interrogatories, and verdict forms two weeks prior to trial, and appear at the trial preparation hearing.

Failure to submit the above documents may be deemed a violation of this order and sanctions may issue.  In addition to filing proposed jury instructions with the court, counsel shall email proposed jury instructions in Word format to rrusso@cuyahogacounty.us

In the event the court is engaged in trial and this matter is referred to a visiting judge, the case is referred for purposes of trial only.  The assigned judge, Cassandra Collier-Williams, retains jurisdiction on all post-trial motions.  Copies of motions are to be hand-delivered to Judge Collier-Williams' office on the day of filing.

Trial counsel shall walk courtesy copies of all required documents and their trial briefs to the Judge's staff attorney on the 11th floor of the Justice Center or directly to the Judge's Chambers by no later than two (2) weeks prior to trial.

Failure to comply with any portion of this court's orders may result in sanctions, including dismissal or judgment.