On Thursday, June 4, 2026, Rodney Lomax filed a complaint in the Supreme Court of Ohio seeking a writ of mandamus and a writ of procedendo. The complaint names Thomas E. Day, Jr., Clerk of Court for the Bedford Municipal Court, and Judge Nicholas A. Papa, also of the Bedford Municipal Court, as respondents.
The complaint stems from actions taken in Bedford Municipal Court Case No. 26CVG00528. Lomax, who was the defendant in the underlying municipal court case, alleges that the respondents failed to perform their official duties in a timely manner, thereby impairing his ability to pursue meaningful appellate review.
Specifically, Lomax claims that after a judgment was entered against him and a writ of restitution was issued on March 6, 2026, he filed several appeal-related documents, including a Notice of Appeal and an Emergency Motion to Stay.
Lomax contends that the Clerk of Court, Thomas E. Day, Jr., had ministerial duties to process, docket, administer, and transmit these filings, and that Judge Nicholas A. Papa had a duty to proceed upon matters submitted for adjudication.
According to the complaint, the failure to timely perform these duties meant that the appeal-related filings and record were not administered in a way that preserved Lomax’s appellate review before he was removed from the property. Lomax argues that this dispossession occurred before meaningful appellate review could be obtained, rendering the ordinary remedy of appeal inadequate.
The complaint seeks a writ of mandamus to compel Clerk Day to certify, assemble, docket, transmit, and correct the record of all appeal-related filings. It also seeks a writ of procedendo to order Judge Papa to proceed according to law concerning unresolved stay-related, bond-waiver, poverty-affidavit, appellate-preservation, or record-related matters.
The court has been asked to issue an alternative writ and grant expedited consideration due to the matter concerning dispossession and appellate preservation.
