Legal Terms in Ohio CPO Cases

We have written comprehensive articles about Civil Protection Orders (CPO) in Ohio. Those articles go into detail about what to expect during a CPO case. But if you are unfamiliar with legal terms in Ohio CPO cases, you may find those other article contain some information you are not looking for. In this article, we will simply, at glance, go over some of the terms you may see the Court use in a CPO case.

Petitioner

This one is pretty self-explanatory. The petitioner is the person who files the petition for the protection order. In some ways, the petitioner plays a similar role to the role a plaintiff would play in a criminal case. Note that a criminal proceeding can be part of, or happen alongside a CPO Case. However, a CPO case does not in itself necessarily involve a criminal charge.

Respondent

In a CPO case, the respondent is the party against whom the petitioner files the protection order. Where the petitioner corresponds to the plaintiff in a criminal case, the respondent corresponds to the Defendant.

Important Note

As we mentioned above, incidents that result in protection orders often also result in criminal proceedings. Other types of protection orders, such as Temporary Protection orders are often issued as part criminal cases. So protection orders and criminal cases are by no means unrelated. But a case involving a Civil Protection Order only is – as the name implies – a civil case.

Conclusion

Now that you have read about some of the Legal terms in Ohio CPO cases, you may want to read more about Civil Protection Orders. We highly recommend our other article “Civil Protection Orders: What Happens During a CPO Case in Ohio.” If you have questions about a specific civil or criminal case, you can always contact the expert attorneys at Dearie, Fischer & Martinson.