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The Ultimate Guide to ohio courts
Article IV, section 1 establishes the Courts in Ohio:
The judicial power of the State is vested in a Supreme Court, courts of appeals, Courts of Common Pleas and divisions thereof, and such other courts inferior to the Supreme Court as may from time to time be established by law.
In Ohio, there are four main types of Courts:
The Courts in Ohio are organized in a hierarchy of progressively more powerful Courts. The higher Court has the ability to review, overturn or vacate a decision from a lower Court – providing a type of check and balance over the judicial power of the State of Ohio. This hierarchy works as follows:
federal Courts in ohio
In Ohio, there are two Federal Courts. These Courts hear appeals of State Court cases, and also hear cases involving Federal lawsuits. Federal Courts have original jurisdiction in two primary categories: cases involving a Federal question and cases between parties of different States where the amount in controversy is over $75,000.00. In Ohio, the Two Federal Courts are organized by district. The Federal Court for the Northern District of Ohio is based in Toledo, Ohio. The Federal Court for the Southern District of Ohio is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Judges who sit on the Federal bench are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by Congress.
The Federal Courts in Ohio also have exclusive jurisdiction over Federal Bankruptcy cases in Ohio. To learn more about Bankruptcy in Ohio, click here.
Ohio Supreme Court
The Ohio Supreme Court was founded in 1803 and serves as the State’s Court of Last resort for legal matters in the State of Ohio. It currently has seven justices.
In 2018, the Ohio Supreme Court decided over 2,000 cases. The justices of the Supreme Court are either appointed by the Governor of Ohio, or are elected by popular vote.
The current justices of the Ohio Supreme Court are as follows:
Maureen O’Conner
Patrick DeWine
Michael P. Donnelly
Melody Stewart
Patrick Fischer
Judith French
Sharon L. Kennedy
You can learn more about the Ohio Supreme Court, as well as view publicly available information about the cases before it by clicking here.
State of ohio Courts of Appeal
The 12 District Courts of Appeal in Ohio are intermediate Appellate Courts for the State. Article IV, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution established these Courts and outline their jurisdiction.
The Ohio Appellate Courts are divided in 12 Districts, with each district assigned a specific number of Counties. For reference, these Counties and their respective Districts are as follows:
ohio Trial Courts
The Ohio Courts of Common Pleas and Municipal Courts are the Trial Courts in the State of Ohio. Each of Ohio’s 88 Counties have one Court of Common Pleas, as outlined in Article IV, Section 4 of the Ohio Constitution. The types of Trial Courts of Ohio are as follows:
Ohio Municipal Courts are Trial Courts with jurisdiction over violations of municipal ordinances – with some exceptions. They also may contain a housing and environmental Court, which has jurisdiction over housing related matters such as evictions and nuisance abatement charges. The Municipal Courts in Ohio also have jurisdiction over criminal matters involving misdemeanors, felony preliminary hearings and civil matters where the amount in controversy is less than $15,000.
Ohio Mayor’s Court exist in communities with more than 200 residents that do not house a Municipal Court. However, only violation of local ordinances and traffic violations are heard in Mayor’s Courts in Ohio.
The Courts of Claims in Ohio is a special Court that has exclusive jurisdiction over all civil actions taken again the State or it’s agencies. The Court of Claims is based in Columbus, Ohio and handles cases from throughout the State of Ohio.
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