These rules govern the procedure in an appeal to the Cleveland Municipal Court from any judgment or default judgment of the Parking Violations Bureau of the City of Cleveland, (hereafter referred to as the P.V.B.), pursuant to Section  459.07 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Cleveland and Ohio Revised Code Section 4521.08(D).

1. Parties
   

   Any person against whom a judgment or default judgment is entered pursuant to this section, or the City of Cleveland if judgment is entered against the city pursuant to this section, may appeal the judgment or default judgment by filing a timely notice of appeal with the Clerk of Court’s Civil Division pursuant to the rules below.

2. Time of Filing
   

   The appealing party must properly file his or her notice of appeal and pay all required costs with the Clerk of Court’s Civil Division between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:45 p.m., Monday through Friday.  The appeal shall be filed within fifteen (15) days of the date of journalization of the decision of the P.V.B. hearing officer.

3. Stay of Execution
   

   The filing of the notice of appeal and the payment of the filing fee shall result in an automatic stay of the execution of the P.V.B. judgment and costs being appealed in this matter.  If the appealing party wins the appeal, the entire amount of his or her filing fees (except transcript costs) and any moneys previously posted in this matter with the Clerk of Court shall be returned.

4. Appeal Forms
   

   The appeal must be filed on the “Notice of Appeal” form provided by the P.V.B. or the Clerk of Court or on a duplicate thereof.  A “Statement of Evidence” form shall also be available from the P.V.B. or the Clerk of Court, if requested.

The P.V.B. shall be located on the second floor of the Justice Center and shall be open between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on Saturday and Sunday.

If the appealing party desires a transcript to be included with the notice of appeal, that party must make the necessary arrangements with the P.V.B., and pre-pay the estimated cost of the transcript at the time of the filing of the appeal.  Any underestimated differential must be paid prior to the hearing date.  Transcript costs are not refundable, even if appellant wins.

If a statement of evidence is to be included instead of a transcript, it must be submitted by the appealing party at the time of filing.  The opposing party may file his or her own statement of evidence if he or she disagrees with the statement of evidence filed by the appealing party.

1. At the time of filing, the administrative judge shall be assigned and entered on the docket as set forth in Local Rule 2.02(B)(17).
2. After the appeal is processed by the Clerk of Court, it shall be sent to the scheduler of the administrative judge for a hearing date.
3. The scheduler shall send notice to the appealing party and the prosecutor’s office.
4. The Clerk of Court shall docket the hearing date.

1. The appeal hearing is not intended as a trial de novo.  It is an appeal proceeding.
2. New evidence may not be introduced, unless the party can demonstrate that with reasonable diligence he or she could not have discovered and produced that evidence for the hearing officer’s consideration.
3. The hearing officer’s finding of fact shall not be disturbed unless the appealing party demonstrates with documentation submitted at the time of the filing of the notice of appeal that there was an irregularity in the proceeding, or that the judgment was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
4. All appeals relating to the hearing officer’s finding of fact must be accompanied by a written statement of evidence presented to the hearing officer, or a typewritten transcript of the hearing.  This evidence of the record must have been filed with the Clerk of Court at least ten (10) days prior to the hearing.

1. Upon the filing of the notice of appeal, the Clerk of Court shall serve notice upon the prosecutor’s office, the hearing officer and the P.V.B.  If the city appeals, the defendant shall be notified by regular U.S. Mail at the most current address reflected in the P.V.B. file.
2. The P.V.B. shall also initiate a procedure to stay collection of the appealed case pending disposition.  The stay shall automatically terminate at journalization of the decision resolving the appeal.
3. Although the prosecutor shall be notified, it is not necessary that a prosecutor or an attorney appear on behalf of the city.

1. Upon the journalization of the judge or magistrate’s decision concerning the appeal hearing, the file shall be returned to the P.V.B.  At that time, if the appealing party succeeded in the appeal, all moneys, except transcript costs, posted by that party in the instant case shall be returned.
2. There is no further appeal from the decision of the judge or magistrate in this matter.

1. At the time the P.V.B. hearing officer’s judgment is transferred to the municipal court, it shall be assigned a regular docket number in the current sequence and it shall receive the designator “H.”  However, all P.V.B. judgments which are so transferred shall be indexed separately from the regular civil docket.
2. All P.V.B. judgments so transferred shall remain unassigned cases and shall not be counted on the reports required by the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio.  They shall have the same status as any transferred judgment.

Because the statute does not provide the P.V.B. hearing officer with the power to subpoena witnesses on behalf of the parties, the parties to the appeal shall have the right to subpoena witnesses to the appeal hearing who were unavailable or unwilling to attend the original hearing.  The costs and the rules for the filing of such subpoenas shall be determined by the existing local and civil rules regarding subpoenas in civil matters.