RULE 3 - RECORDS AND PLEADINGS

 RULE 3.1.1 - NUMBERING OF CASES

 Rule 43 of the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio shall be followed and all actions brought in this Court shall be numbered consecutively as filed and shall be entered on the docket and indexed as numbered. Thereafter, in filing any papers therein or calling the attention of the Court to any case, its number must be given and the name of the judge to whom the case is assigned indicated below said numbers.

 RULE 3.1.2 - FORM AND SIGNING OF PLEADINGS

 Rules 10 and 11 of the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure shall be followed.

 RULE 3.1.3 - PROOF OF SERVICE

 Except for original complaints, all filings shall contain certificates or proofs of service as provided by Ohio Civil Rule 5D.

 RULE 3.2.1 - RECORDS OPEN FOR INSPECTION

 All indexes, dockets and journals maintained in accordance with law by the Clerk shall be open to inspection by anyone at any time during regular business hours. Original papers; however, shall not be removed from the office of the Clerk of Court. The same shall apply to all affidavits, warrants and other documents filed of record.

 This rule shall not be construed to allow the right to examine certain documents, such as accident reports, alcoholic influence reports, arrest reports and other forms that are discoverable only upon court order pursuant to Ohio Criminal Procedure Rule 16.

 All inquiries regarding any case filed with the Miami County Municipal Court must be made in writing. Information pertaining to the case shall be provided only to a party to a case or to his/her attorney. A self addressed stamped envelope shall be enclosed with any written inquiry made. Failure to include such envelope will result in the inquiry not being answered. No information pertaining to any case shall be given over the telephone by any clerk or deputy clerk

 RULE 3.2.2 - COURT FILINGS AND REMOVAL OF PAPERS FROM CUSTODY OF CLERK

 The Clerk shall file and preserve in his/her office all papers delivered to him/her for that purpose. All pleadings, motions, and other forms filed in an actions shall be filed in compliance with the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure or the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure. All pleadings, including motions, that are not filed in compliance with those rules shall be reported by the Clerk of Courts to the Judge assigned to the case or to the Administrative Judge and these pleadings may be stricken from the record upon the motion of the Court. No papers, documents, or exhibits on file in the office of the Clerk of Court shall be allowed to be taken from the custody of the Clerk except as hereinafter provided.

 Excepting Court personnel, original papers, which shall include transcripts or depositions filed in the action, shall not be taken from the files except upon filing an entry approved by the Court and a written receipt which shall be retained by the Clerk until the file is returned. In no event shall the file be removed for longer than three (3) days, except by court personnel.

 By order of a judge of this Court, any exhibit may be returned to the witness or party by whom it was produced after the substitution of a photostatic copy thereof; provided, however, that such order may dispense with such substitution in the case of an original record, paper, or object taken from the custody of a public officer which is being returned to such officer, or in the case of an exhibit used only in making proof against a party whose default has been entered, or when a receipt shall be given, or when a written stipulation of all the parties consenting thereto is filed. The application for such an order shall be supported by an affidavit stating all the pertinent facts except where it is made on stipulation.

 The Clerk shall, upon request, furnish extra copies of pleadings or other papers upon the payment of a reasonable fee.

 In small claims cases, the exhibits may be returned to the party submitting the exhibits at the expiration of the appeal period.

 RULE 3.3 - COPIES OF COMPLAINT

 Plaintiffs shall tender with the original complaint a sufficient number of service copies for all defendants to be served.

 RULE 3.4 - RELEASES AND ASSIGNMENTS

 Any assignment, cancellation or release of judgment shall be in writing and filed as other papers in the appropriate case, if requested.

 RULE 3.5. - FACSIMILE FILING

Pleadings and other papers may be filed with the Clerk of Courts by facsimile transmission to 937-440-3911 subject to the following conditions:

 DEFINITIONS

 As used in these rules, unless the context requires otherwise:

  3.5.01 A "facsimile transmission" means the transmission of a source document by a facsimile machine that encodes a document into optical or electrical signals, transmits and reconstructs the signals to print a duplicate of the source document at the receiving end.

  3.5.02 A "facsimile machine" means a machine that can send and receive a facsimile transmission.

  3.5.03 "Fax" is an abbreviation for "facsimile" and refers, as indicated by the context, to facsimile transmission or to a document as transmitted.

 APPLICABILITY

  3.5.04 These rules apply to civil, criminal and small claims proceedings in the Miami County Municipal Court.

 ORIGINAL FILING

  3.5.05 A A document filed by fax shall be accepted as the effective original filing. The person making a fax filing need not file any source document with the Clerk of Court. The person must, however, maintain and have available for production on request by the Court the source document filed by fax, with original signatures as otherwise required under the applicable rules, together with the source copy of the facsimile cover sheet used for the subject filing.

  3.5.05 B The source document filed by fax shall be maintained by the person making the filing until the case is closed and all opportunities for post judgment relief are exhausted.

 COVER PAGE

  3.5.06 A The person filing a document by fax shall also provide therewith a cover page containing the following information: [See appendix for cover page form.]

  the name of the Court;
  the title of the case;
  the case number;
  the assigned judge; if a judge or case number has not been assigned, state that fact on the cover page;
  the title of the document being filed (e.g. Defendant Jones' Answer to Amended Complaint; Plaintiff Smith's
    Response to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss; Plaintiff Smith's Notice of Filing Exhibit "G" to Plaintiff Smith's
    Response to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss);
  the date of transmission;
  the transmitting fax number;
  an indication of the number of pages included in the transmission, including the cover page;
  the name, address, telephone number, fax number, Supreme Court registration number, if applicable, and
     e-mail address of the person filing the fax document if available;

  3.5.06 B If a document is sent by fax to the Clerk of Court without the cover page information listed above, the Clerk may deposit the document in a file of failed faxed documents with a notation of the reason for the failure; in this instance, the document shall not be considered filed with the Clerk of Courts

  3.5.06 C The Clerk of Court is not required to send any from of notice to the sending party of a failed fax filing. However, if practicable, the Clerk of Court may inform the sending party of a failed fax filing.

 SIGNATURE

  3.5.07 A A party who wishes to file a signed source document by fax shall either:

  fax a copy of the signed source document; or
  fax a copy of the document without the signature but with the notation "/s/" followed by the name of the
    signing person where the signature appears in the signed source document.

  3.5.07 B  A party who files a signed document by fax represents that the physically signed source document is in his/her possession or control.

 EXHIBITS

  3.5.08 A Each exhibit to a facsimile produced document that cannot be accurately transmitted via facsimile transmission for any reason must be replaced by an insert page describing the exhibit and why it is missing. Unless the court otherwise orders, the missing exhibit shall be filed with the court as a separate document, not later than five (5) court days following the filing of the facsimile document. Failure to file the missing exhibits as required by this paragraph may result in the court striking the document and/or exhibit.

  3.5.08 B Any exhibit filed in this manner shall be attached to a cover sheet containing the caption of the case which sets forth the name of the court, title of the case, the case number, name of the judge and the title of the exhibit being filed (e.g., Plaintiff Smith's Notice of Filing Exhibit "G" to Plaintiff Smith's Response to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss), and shall be signed and served in conformance with the rules governing the signing and service of pleadings in this court. [See appendix for sample exhibit cover sheet.]

 TIME OF FILING

  3.5.09 A Subject to the provision of these rules, all documents sent by fax and accepted by the Clerk shall be considered filed with the Clerk of Courts as of the date and time the Clerk time -stamps the document received, as opposed to the date and time of the fax transmission. However, the fax machine will be available to receive facsimile transmission of documents on the basis of 24 hours per day seven days per week including holidays.

  3.5.09 B Fax filings may NOT be sent directly to the court for filing but may only be transmitted directly through the facsimile equipment operated by the Clerk of Courts.

  3.5.09 C The Clerk of Court may, but need not, acknowledge receipt of a facsimile transmission.

  3.5.09 D The risks of transmitting a document by fax to the Clerk of Courts shall be borne entirely by the sending party. Anyone using facsimile filing is urged to verify receipt of such filing by the Clerk of Court through whatever technological means are available.

 FEES AND COSTS LENGTH OF DOCUMENT

  3.5.10 A No document filed by facsimile that requires a filing fee shall be accepted by the Clerk for filing until such fee has been paid. Court cost and fees may be paid by credit or debit cards or through an escrow account established with the Clerk. The forms necessary for the authorization of payment by credit card or escrow account shall be available at the Clerk's office during normal business hours. Documents tendered to the Clerk without payment of fees, or with incomplete information on the charge authorization or request, or which do not conform to applicable rules will not be filed. [See appendix for sample credit card payment form.]

 3.5.10 B No additional fee shall be assessed for facsimile filings.

 LENGTH OF DOCUMENT

  3.5.11 Facsimile filings shall not exceed five (5) pages in length. The filer shall not transmit service copies by facsimile.

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