Lima Municipal Court

Lima Municipal Court cases in Allen County, Lima, OH

Lima Municipal Court is a municipal, limited-jurisdiction trial court serving the City of Lima, Ohio, within its statutory territorial jurisdiction. It handles misdemeanor criminal and traffic offenses, city ordinance and state-law misdemeanor violations, and conducts initial appearances, arraignments, and preliminary hearings in felony cases. On the civil side, it hears cases within the municipal court monetary limit (generally up to $15,000), including contract and tort claims and landlord-tenant matters such as evictions (forcible entry and detainer), and operates a small claims division for disputes up to $6,000. The court also processes warrants, addresses probation violations in its cases, and enforces judgments it issues.

Lima Municipal Court Contact and Location Information

Services and Case Types Handled in Lima Municipal Court

Lima Municipal Court serves the public by handling:
- Criminal/traffic: misdemeanors (including OVI), city ordinance violations, and felony preliminary hearings.
- Civil: claims up to $15,000, small claims up to $6,000, landlord-tenant/evictions, and post-judgment collections (garnishments, attachments).

Core services:
- Case filings, docketing, public records, certified copies, and payments/fine collection.
- Protective orders: temporary protection orders in qualifying criminal cases and, where authorized, civil stalking/sexually oriented offense protection orders.
- Court proceedings management: arraignments, pretrials, motion hearings, settlement conferences, and trials (judge or jury).
- Jury services: summons, orientation, deferrals/excusal processing, and juror payment.
- Probation/supervision, pre-sentence investigations, and compliance monitoring.
- Bonds, warrants, and scheduling/continuance requests.
- Forms, self-help information, and reasonable accommodations/interpreter coordination.