Ohio § 1901.41

§ 1901.41.

(A) Notwithstanding sections 149.381 and 149.39 of the Revised Code and subject to division (E) of this section, each municipal court, by rule, may order

the destruction or other disposition of the files of cases that have been finally

disposed of by the court for at least five years as follows: (1) If a case has been finally disposed of for at least five years, but less than fifteen

years prior to the adoption of the rule of court for destruction or other disposition

of the files, the court may order the files destroyed or otherwise disposed of only

if the court first complies with division (B)(1) of this section; (2) If a case has been finally disposed of for fifteen years or more prior to the adoption

of the rule of court for destruction or other disposition of the files, the court

may order the files destroyed or otherwise disposed of without having copied or reproduced

the files prior to their destruction. (B)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this division, all files destroyed or otherwise disposed

of under division (A)(1) of this section shall be copied or reproduced prior to their

destruction or disposition in the manner and according to the procedure prescribed

in section 9.01 of the Revised Code .  The copies or reproductions of the files made pursuant to section 9.01 of the Revised Code shall be retained and preserved by the court for a period of ten years after the

destruction of the original files in accordance with this section, after which the

copies or reproductions themselves may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of. Files destroyed or otherwise disposed of under division (A)(1) of this section that

are solely concerned with criminal prosecutions for minor misdemeanor offenses or

that are concerned solely with minor misdemeanor traffic prosecutions do not have

to be copied or reproduced in any manner or under any procedure prior to their destruction

or disposition as provided in this section. (2) Files destroyed or otherwise disposed of under division (A)(2) of this section do

not have to be copied or reproduced in any manner or under any procedure prior to

their destruction or disposition. (C) Nothing in this section permits or shall be construed as permitting the destruction

or other disposition of the files in the Cleveland municipal court of cases involving

the following actions and proceedings: (1) The sale of real property in an action to foreclose and marshal all liens on the

real property; (2) The sale of real property in an action to foreclose a mortgage on the real property; (3) The determination of rights in the title to real property either in the form of a

creditor's bill or in any other action intended to determine or adjudicate the right,

title, and interest of a person or persons in the ownership of a parcel or parcels

of real property or any interest therein. (D) All dockets, indexes, journals, and cash books of the court shall be retained and

preserved by the court for at least twenty-five years unless they are reproduced in

the manner and according to the procedure prescribed in section 9.01 of the Revised Code , in which case the reproductions shall be retained and preserved by the court at

least until the expiration of the twenty-five year period for which the originals

would have had to have been retained.  Court dockets, indexes, journals, and cash books, and all other court records also

shall be subject to destruction or other disposition under section 149.381 of the Revised Code . (E) Notwithstanding sections 149.381 and 149.39 of the Revised Code , each clerk of a municipal court shall retain documentation regarding each criminal

conviction and plea of guilty involving a case that is or was before the court.  The documentation shall be in a form that is admissible as evidence in a criminal

proceeding as evidence of a prior conviction or that is readily convertible to or

producible in a form that is admissible as evidence in a criminal proceeding as evidence

of a prior conviction and may be retained in any form authorized by section 9.01 of the Revised Code .  The clerk shall retain this documentation for a period of fifty years after the

entry of judgment in the case, except that documentation regarding cases solely concerned

with minor misdemeanor offenses or minor misdemeanor traffic offenses shall be retained

as provided in divisions (A) and (B) of this section, and documentation regarding

other misdemeanor traffic offenses shall be retained for a period of twenty-five years

after the entry of judgment in the case.  This section shall apply to records currently retained and to records created on

or after September 23, 2004.