Title: State ex rel. Norris v. Giavasis

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Cite as State ex rel. Norris v. Giavasis, 100 Ohio St.3d 371, 2003-Ohio-6609.] 
 
 
[THE STATE EX REL.] NORRIS, APPELLANT, v. GIAVASIS, CLERK, ET AL., 
APPELLEES. 
[Cite as State ex rel. Norris v. Giavasis, 100 Ohio St.3d 371, 2003-Ohio-6609.] 
Mandamus — Writ sought to compel common pleas court clerk to remove 
entries from the court’s appearance docket — Court of appeals’ 
dismissal of complaint affirmed. 
(No. 2003-1478 — Submitted December 2, 2003 — Decided December 31, 
2003.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Stark County, No. 2003CA00268. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶1} 
On July 24, 2003, appellant, Robert Lee Norris, an inmate, filed a 
complaint in the Court of Appeals for Stark County.  Norris sought a writ of 
mandamus to compel appellees, Stark County Common Pleas Court Clerk Phil G. 
Giavasis and Deputy Clerk A. Gifford, to remove from their records “the July 11, 
2003 Appearance Docket and each of its entries” and to retain “the certified ‘June 
25, 2002’ Appearance Docket.” The docket entries were of his criminal case 
stemming from a 1992 indictment. 
{¶2} 
Norris filed an affidavit that he claimed listed his prior “civil 
actions and criminal appeals within the preceding (5) five years pursuant to [R.C.] 
2969.25.” The affidavit, however, did not contain a “brief description of the 
nature” of each civil action or appeal and the outcome of each civil action and 
appeal. R.C. 2969.25(A)(1) and (4).  And although Norris requested a waiver of 
the filing fees assessed by the court of appeals based on his claimed indigency, his 
affidavit of indigency did not contain the statement required by R.C. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
2969.25(C)(1) setting forth the balance in his inmate account “for each of the 
preceding six months, as certified by the institutional cashier.” 
{¶3} 
On August 1, 2003, the court of appeals sua sponte dismissed 
Norris’s complaint. 
{¶4} 
We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.  “The 
requirements of R.C. 2969.25 are mandatory, and failure to comply with them 
subjects an inmate’s action to dismissal.”  State ex rel. White v. Bechtel, 99 Ohio 
St.3d 11, 2003-Ohio-2262, 788 N.E.2d 634, ¶ 5.  Norris failed to comply with 
R.C. 2969.25(A) and 2969.25(C)(1).  State ex rel. Kimbro v. Glavas, 97 Ohio 
St.3d 197, 2002-Ohio-5808, 777 N.E.2d 257, ¶ 2; White, 99 Ohio St.3d 11, 2003-
Ohio-2262, 788 N.E.2d 634, ¶ 2, 5. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, 
O’CONNOR and O’DONNELL, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
Robert Lee Norris, pro se. 
__________________