In re J.H.

2024 Ohio 5767

Opinion

[Cite as In re J.H., 2024-Ohio-5767.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO ELEVENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT ASHTABULA COUNTY

IN THE MATTER OF: CASE NOS. 2024-A-0093 2024-A-0094 J.H., JR., J.H., D.H., D.H., AND A.H., 2024-A-0095 DEPENDENT CHILDREN 2024-A-0096 2024-A-0097

Civil Appeals from the Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division

Trial Court Nos. 2021 JC 00059 2021 JC 00060 2021 JC 00061 2021 JC 00062 2021 JC 00063

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Decided: December 9, 2024 Judgment: Appeals dismissed

Michelle Lyn Guzzo, pro se, PID# W109-591, Northeast Reintegration Center, 2675 East 30th Street, Cleveland, OH 44115 (Appellant).

Colleen M. O’Toole, Ashtabula County Prosecutor, 25 West Jefferson Street, Jefferson, OH 44047 (For Appellee, Ashtabula County Children Services Board).

Tabitha L. Stewart, P.O. Box 185, Rock Creek, OH 44084 (Guardian Ad Litem).

MATT LYNCH, J.

{¶1} Pending before this Court are the following appeals filed, pro se, by Michelle Lyn Guzzo: In re J.H., J.H., D.H., D.H., and A.H., 11th Dist. Ashtabula Nos. 2024-A-0093,

2024-A-0094, 2024-A-0095, 2024-A-0096, and 2024-A-0097, filed on November 6, 2024.

Guzzo appeals the judgment of the Ashtabula County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile

Division, granting permanent custody of her minor children to the Ashtabula County

Children Services Board, filed on October 2, 2024.

{¶2} The Rules of Appellate Procedure provide that “a party who wishes to

appeal from an order that is final upon its entry shall file the notice of appeal required by

App.R. 3 within 30 days of that entry.” App.R. 4(A)(1). “In a civil case, if the clerk has not

completed service of notice of the judgment within the three-day period prescribed in

Civ.R. 58(B), the 30-day periods referenced in App.R. 4(A)(1) and 4(A)(2) begin to run on

the date when the clerk actually completes service.” App.R. 4(A)(3).

{¶3} In the present cases, the trial court’s docket indicates that copies of the

October 2, 2024 Judgment Entry were emailed to counsel for Guzzo on October 2 and

sent to Guzzo by certified mail on October 3. Accordingly, the notices of appeal in the

present cases were due no later than Friday, November 1, 2024.

{¶4} “The time requirement for filing a notice of appeal is jurisdictional in nature

and may not be enlarged by an appellate court.” State v. Hoffman, 2024-Ohio-3372, ¶ 6

(11th Dist.); In re H.F., 2008-Ohio-6810, ¶ 17 (“App.R. 4 governs the timing of appeals

and must be carefully followed because failure to file a timely notice of appeal under

App.R. 4(A) is a jurisdictional defect”); State ex rel. Pendell v. Adams Cty. Bd. of Elections,

40 Ohio St.3d 58, 60 (1988) (“[w]here a notice of appeal is not filed within the time

prescribed by law, the reviewing court is without jurisdiction to consider issues that should

Case Nos. 2024-A-0093, 2024-A-0094, 2024-A-0095, 2024-A-0096 and 2024-A-0097 have been raised in the appeal”).

{¶5} Accordingly, these appeals are dismissed, sua sponte, as untimely.

EUGENE A. LUCCI, P.J.,

JOHN J. EKLUND, J.,

concur.

Case Nos. 2024-A-0093, 2024-A-0094, 2024-A-0095, 2024-A-0096 and 2024-A-0097