Stark County Court

County Resources

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Stark County Courthouse

The Stark County Courthouse is a Beaux Arts structure that has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. After undergoing significant renovations in 1995, it remains operable today. All Divisions of the Court of Common Pleas and the Fifth District Appeal Court are housed in the Stark County Courthouse. It is open to the public from 8:30am to 4:30pm on weekdays.

Stark County Clerk Of Common Pleas Court

Lynn Miller Todaro is the current Stark County Clerk of Courts. The Clerk of Common Pleas Court, as the position is known in Ohio, provides two distinct services.

First, the Clerk of Court’s office provides several services for court justices, including filing, docketing, indexing and preserving court pleadings for civil, felony criminal, and domestic cases. The Clerk also handles fines and court costs. In Stark County, the Clerk of Courts has attempted to automate the entire criminal justice cycle to perform these duties more efficiently.

The Clerk is also the agent for Ohio’s Automobile and Watercraft Title Division, which issues almost 400,000 vehicle title transactions each year. A certificate of title is proof of ownership of a vehicle. The Clerk has three Auto Title Offices with a State of Ohio Deputy Registrar, which makes it possible to transfer an auto title and obtain license plates at the same location.

District Court

Stark County is in the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. It is a federal trial court that hears civil and criminal cases within the Northern District, which includes the forty northernmost counties in Ohio. This court hears cases that involve civil rights, employment discrimination, environmental law, intellectual property, and federal criminal cases. The district is divided into an Eastern and Western Division, each of which has two court locations. Stark County is in the Eastern Division, which holds court in Cleveland.

The Northern District is one of the largest US district courts. It includes eleven district judgeships, held by four senior judges and seven magistrate judges. District Court judges are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. They serve lifetime appointments. Sara Lioi is the Chief Judge of the Northern District and Sandy Opacich is the Clerk of Court.

Carl B. Stokes U.S. Court House
801 West Superior Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
(216) 357-7000

Court of Appeals

Ohio Court of Appeals serve as intermediate appeallate courts. Appeals courts hear and review legal cases that have already been heard in a trial-level or other lower court. When parties experience an unsuccessful outcome in such trials, they may file an appeal with an appellate court to have decisions reviewed.

Stark County is in the jurisdiction of the Fifth District Court of Appeals, seated in Canton, Ohio.
The Court hears appeals from the Court of Common Pleas, County District Courts, and Municipal Courts in their district.

Civil Court

Civil courts handle disputes between individuals, such as those involving contracts, property, personal injury claims, and family law issues. Such cases typically result in monetary damages, injunctions, or orders to fill contractual obligations. In Stark County, the General Division of the Common Pleas Court had jurisdiction over civil cases in which the amount in the dispute exceeds $15,000. Municipal courts may have jurisdiction in civil cases concerning small claims (less than $15,000), which are often heard by a magistrate in a more informal setting.

The Common Pleas Court also had Juvenile And Domestic Relations Divisions that hear civil claims involing family law. The Domestic Relations Division adjudicates issues involving divorce, marriage dissolution, child custody and visitation, child support enforcement, domestic vioelnce and contempt action. The Juvenile Court that hears cases concerning youth, children, paternity, and custody and manages a Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, which aims to eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate use of juvenile secure detention and to reduce racial disparities.

Drug Court

The Stark County Court of Common Pleas insituted their CHANCE Drug Court Program in 1997. It is a Specialized Docket for eligible felony drug and alcohol related cases. The aim of the program is to identify felony offenders with substance abuse programs and offern treatment and monitoring in lieu of incarceration.

The program stuff reviews cases prior to court hearings in order to assist judges in determining and enforcing treatment objectives, incentives, and sanctions. CHANCE is highly structured and requres participants to make regular court appearances to affim they are following specific program rules. The Stark County Prosecutor’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, Day Reporting Program, Pre-trial Services, and Adult Probation all collaborate on the Drug Court.