The Municipal Courts in this Area

There is a certain business operation in suburban misdemeanor criminal justice. Suburban municipal courts handle all of the suburban misdemeanor prosecutions in the Northeastern Ohio area. Some municipal courts handle just the city where they are located - like Lakewood, South Euclid, East Cleveland, Euclid and Cleveland Heights. Some municipal courts handle multiple cities - like Parma (8 cities), Rocky River (5 cities), Garfield Heights (8 cities), Berea (6 cities), Bedford (13 cities), Stow (16 cities), Lyndhurst (6 cities), and Elyria (10 cities). Often a client has been initially confused as to why their case went to a municipal court that was located outside of the city where they were alleged to have committed a traffic or criminal offense. Essentially some cites find it much easier to have the business of their trial court cases essentially “outsourced” to another city. In fact, often cities actually compete to get the business of a municipal court operation. Recently, one municipal court which served over ten cities relocated from one city to another because the new city essentially offered a better deal, and, of course, a brand new courthouse. Our active practice has taken us to all of these courthouses.