OH · rules
Ohio S.Ct.Prac.R. 4.03
Frivolous Actions; Sanctions; Vexatious Litigators
(A) Supreme Court sanction
A filing is frivolous if it is not reasonably grounded in fact or warranted by existing law or
a good-faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law. If the
Supreme Court, sua sponte or on motion by a party, determines that a filing is frivolous or
is prosecuted for delay, harassment, or any other improper purpose, the Court may sanction
the person who signed or submitted the filing in his or her name, the represented party, or
both. Sanctions may include any sanction the Supreme Court considers just, including an
award to an opposing party of reasonable attorney fees and other litigation expenses.
(B) Vexatious litigator
The Supreme Court, of its own initiative or on motion by a party, may declare a party or
person who signed a filing to be a vexatious litigator if the party or person who signed a
filing habitually or persistently engaged in conduct warranting sanctions under Rule
4.03(A) whether or not the Court exercised its discretion to impose such sanctions. The
Court in any pending or future case may impose upon a vexatious litigator any restriction
on filing with the Court that the Court considers just. Such restrictions include requiring
leave of Court to file a document and prohibiting the filing of actions in the Supreme Court
without the filing fee or security for costs required by Rules 3.04 and 3.05.
History
Effective Date: June 1, 1994 Amended: April 1, 1996; April 28, 1997; July 1, 2004; October 1, 2005; January 1, 2008; January 1, 2010; January 1, 2013; April 1, 2025
Provenance
- Source
- supremecourt.ohio.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-14
- Edition
- 2026-09-14
- Content hash
2b3d06b82028e5f68051681b0b41a51d8f7b073ecf76c06093c7e7078d66de23
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.