Robert Ruehlman Retired

Robert P. Ruehlman, a retired judge sitting by assignment on the Jackson County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas, was disqualified by the Ohio Supreme Court from presiding over the case Jackson v. Ward after threatening a litigant with jail time. During a November 2023 hearing, after declaring the litigant, Ward, a "vexatious" litigant, Ruehlman told him: "If you file anything and play around with this ruling, you're going to go to jail. I'll find you and track [you] down and put you in jail."

The Ohio Supreme Court's March 2024 disqualification order found that "an objective observer would reasonably conclude that the judge has already determined that Ward would be guilty of direct contempt for which jail time is the appropriate punishment — regardless of the evidence adduced at a potential contempt hearing," and removed Ruehlman from the case.