The 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
2
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.
3
Case Nos. 2024-A-0093, 2024-A-0094, 2024-A-0095, 2024-A-0096 and 2024-A-0097