Common Pleas Court Judges

This Court follows the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s endorsed Civil Case Management Order as a guide for civil litigants. The Court encourages litigants to access the Order by visiting the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s website.

The Court will attempt to resolve all cases within one year of filing, absent extraordinary circumstances. Litigants representing themselves are presumed to know the law and correct civil procedure. The Court will not consider communications other than those that have been properly served upon all parties and filed with the clerk.

Time permitting, pretrials will be conducted in person with Judge Kelley. Pretrials may also be held by telephone with the staff attorney.

MOTIONS FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT

Plaintiff’s counsel is to initiate the telephonic hearing for default judgment. Detailed instructions will be entered on the docket at the time the hearing is scheduled. Prior to the scheduled hearing, Plaintiff’s counsel shall provide the Court with the following: 1) a copy of the correspondence sent to the defendant advising of the date and time of the default hearing. 2) an affidavit that establishes that the defendant is not an active member of the military 3) an affidavit signed by the Plaintiff, or Plaintiff’s representative, proving damages 4) a copy of the contract, assignment, or written instrument upon which plaintiff seeks judgment and 5) a proposed judgment entry.

MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The Court may schedule and conduct an oral argument on pending motions for summary judgment. The time parameters for argument shall be set by Judge Kelley.

The staff attorney will conduct all case management conferences by telephone.  Further instructions regarding CMCs will be found on the docket prior to the CMC.  The Court allows between ninety (90) to one hundred twenty (120) days for discovery.  The parties are encouraged to begin discovery prior to the case management conference.  The parties are to contact the staff attorney at 216-443-7326 in order to schedule a telephone conference prior to filing any discovery motion (motion to compel, motion to quash). 

The parties may request a settlement conference by motion or by contacting the staff attorney. For settlement conferences and final pretrials, all parties and representatives must be present with full, final, and immediate settlement authority.

Motions in limine must be in writing and filed ten (10) days before trial. A brief in opposition is due seven (7) days after the motion in limine is filed, but not later than three days prior to trial. Prior to the start of jury selection, the parties are to deliver to the Court a brief agreed statement of the case to be read to the prospective jurors.

Prior to the final pretrial, all parties are to file the following:

1) Trial briefs. All parties are required to serve and file a trial brief which shall contain a succinct statement of their claims; a brief statement of the essential and material fact; the legal issues involved; the type and amount of damages they are seeking; and an estimate of how long it will take to put on their case in chief.
2) Witness lists, Exhibit lists, Stipulations. The parties shall exchange, serve, and file witness lists which shall include the names of the witnesses and a brief statement of the expected testimony of each witness. The parties shall exchange/serve and file a list of trial exhibits. Trial exhibits shall be pre-marked with exhibit stickers and exchanges. Plaintiffs shall mark their exhibits using numbers; Defendants shall mark their exhibits using letters. The parties are required to provide the Court with a file-stamped copy of the above items. The parties are to file any stipulations.
3) Jury Instructions, Interrogatories, and Verdict Forms. Counsel shall provide jury instructions which conform to OJI or cite to published Ohio cases. Counsel shall provide jury instructions that are relevant to the specific issues to be presented at trial. All instructions should be short, concise, understandable and neutral statements of the law. The Court will not consider proposed jury instructions that are deemed argumentative or which otherwise do not conform to the above requirements. The parties must serve their proposed jury instructions, interrogatories, and verdict forms on each other. The parties should then confer in order to agree on a single set of instructions to the extent possible. The joint proposed instructions (along with the proposed instructions upon which the parties have been unable to agree), interrogatories, and verdict forms must be filed with the court at least five (5) business days before trial. Each party should file its objections, if any, to jury instructions, interrogatories, and verdict forms proposed by any other party no later than two (2) business days before trial. Any such objections must recite the proposed instruction in its entirety and specifically highlight the objectionable language. The objection should contain both a concise argument why the proposed language is improper and citation to relevant legal authority. Where applicable, the objecting party must submit an alternative instruction covering the pertinent subject matter or principle of law. Any party may, if it chooses, submit a brief written reply in support of its proposed instructions on the day of trial.