FAQ - How to Find an Ohio Case in the Law Library

Following are some tips for locating Ohio cases using resources available to any visitor to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library. Often you may need to check more than one source depending on the coverage of the source and the information you have at hand.

For an excellent discussion of Ohio’s print and electronic case resources for state and federal Ohio cases, see the Cleveland Law Library Association’s Frequently Asked Questions: How to Find an Ohio Case.

If you know the citation for a reported case:

Here are three parallel citations to the same reported case:

105 Ohio St.3d 1, 821 N.E.2d 984, 2004-Ohio-6893

A print copy of this case in the Law Library will be found in vol 105 of Ohio State Reports 3d ( at page 1) or volume 821 of Northeastern Reporter 2d (at page 984). The third citation, 2004-Ohio-6893, is the Ohio Supreme Court’s electronic citation to this case as found on the Court’s web cite.

Electronic copies of this case will be found at:

LexisNexis Academic, use : Get a Case by Citation (any of the three parallel citations above )

West’s Premise (CD-ROM) : ( Use either of the two print reporter citations above)

Ohio Supreme Court’s website: Reporter of Decisions, Opinions and Announcements (for Ohio Supreme Court cases decided 1992 to date; cases from appellate and other courts vary). Use the Court’s WebCite Number to retrieve the case)

If you know the citation for an unreported case:

Here are three parallel citations to the same unreported Ohio Appellate case:

2004 Ohio App Lexis 2545; 2004 WL 1233975; 2004-Ohio-2859

Electronic copies of this case will be found at:

LexisNexis Academic, use : Get a Case by Citation (Use the 2004 Ohio App Lexis 2545 cite or the official court WebCite number – 2004-Ohio- 2859)

West’s Premise (CD-ROM) : Use the Retrieve Document function (Use only the Westlaw cite: 2004 WL 1233975)

Ohio Supreme Court’s website: Reporter of Decisions, Opinions and Announcements : Use the Court’s WebCite Number to retrieve the case.

If you know one or more of the parties to the case:

In print:

West’s Ohio Digest – Table of Cases volumes

Ohio Jurisprudence 3d (Selective) Tables of Cases volumes

Electronic:

LexisNexis Academic, use: Get a Case by Party Name

West’s Premise (CD-ROM) : Search for name in title field or use Fields Template

If you are looking for cases which discuss a particular subject or issue:

In print: Use case finding tools such as:

West’s Ohio Digest – Comprehensive topical outline of legal issues decided in Ohio courts with case digests and citations

Ohio Jurisprudence 3d - Encyclopedic treatment of Ohio legal issues with citations to cases and statutes as well as secondary sources

Ohio Revised Code Annotated ( Baldwin’s ORC or Page’s ORC ) – to find summaries of cases with citations interpreting sections of the Ohio Revised Code

Subject specific treatises in the Law Library collection which cite to Ohio case law

Electronically:

LexisNexis Academic: Search State Case Law - Ohio

West’s Premise (CD-ROM): Select database and Search option

JRN 5/2005