- No civil action or proceeding shall be accepted by the Clerk for filing in the Civil Division unless the party or parties offering the same for filing shall have first deposited a sum to secure the payment of the costs that may accrue in such action or proceeding, except as otherwise provided by these rules or by law. Such advance deposit shall be according to the following schedule and subject to change by amendment of the court.
- In cases with multiple parties, the clerk may require the party requesting service to advance an amount estimated by the clerk to be sufficient to cover the cost thereof.
- A poverty affidavit filed instead of a cash deposit must state the reasons for the inability to prepay costs and is subject to court review at any stage of the proceedings
- If, at any time, the deposit for costs becomes insufficient in any case, the Clerk of Court may require an additional deposit in an amount sufficient to cover future costs.
- Upon disposition of the case and at the end of the month following the disposition of the case the balance in any accounts will be returned to the plaintiff.
- The State of Ohio and its political subdivisions together with governmental agencies or officers of either are exempt from this Rule 5.
The following cost for civil complaints shall be used to calculate the amount of the deposit of said funds as outline in this rule, by taking the amount of the cost for each procedure requested by the complainant and multiplying that total by one hundred and fifty (1.50) percent. Any overpayment of the cost shall be returned to the complainant at time of case disposition.