oh-cuya

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas (Cleveland)

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Verify the assigned judge's chambers practice + the court's current Loc. R. before every filing.

At a glance

• Court: Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas (Cleveland)
• Region: Lake Erie / Northeast Ohio
• Population: 1.26M
• Address: Justice Center Complex, 1200 Ontario St., Cleveland, OH 44113
• Appellate district: 8th Judicial District (Ohio Court of Appeals)
• E-filing: cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us

Distinctives

• Cuyahoga is Ohio's largest county by population and the highest civil-filing volume in the state.
• Heavy consumer-debt docket — many cases route to Cleveland Municipal Court (~$15k cap) before reaching Common Pleas.
• Loc. R. 8.0(E) governs discovery motions: discovery requests and responses are not filed with the court, and any motion on a discovery dispute must attach the disputed request and the responses to it. (Loc. R. 21.x is Arbitration/Mediation; former 21.2–21.4 are repealed.)
• Several judges require working paper copies for briefs over 15 pages.
• Full verbatim rules: oh-law-references/references/local-rules/Cuyahoga-CommonPleas-LocalRules.md (July 2025).

Filing flow

1. Caption per Civ. R. 10(A) — see oh-statewide-format
2. E-file via the court's portal (per-court system — not a statewide platform)
3. Working copies if required by chambers practice
4. Certificate of service on every party
5. Notice of Hearing if the motion requires a hearing date (see oh-schedule-hearing)

Disqualifying the assigned judge

To seek removal of a Cuyahoga Common Pleas judge for bias, prejudice, or interest, do not file a motion to recuse with the judge. File an affidavit of disqualification with the Clerk of the Ohio Supreme Court under R.C. 2701.03 — the Chief Justice rules on it, and a timely affidavit suspends the judge's authority to preside until that ruling. Full mechanics (the 7-day-before-hearing timing, required contents, and authority-suspension rule) are in oh-hearings → "Seeking disqualification (recusal) of the judge" and the statute at oh-law-references/references/oh-statutes-debt/RC-Chapter-2701.md.

Composition with other oh- skills

• oh-statewide-format — Civ. R. 10 caption + signature
• oh-discovery — Civ. R. 33/34/36 practice
• oh-first-30-days — 28-day Civ. R. 12(A)(1) answer
• oh-hearings — R.C. 2701.03 affidavit of disqualification
• oh-draft-motion / -declaration / -note / -order — scaffolders adapted to this court's local rules
• oh-pro-se — pro-se conventions
• oh-file-packet — court-specific e-filing portal
• oh-consumer-debt — debt-buyer defense framework