State ex rel. Andwan v. Village of Greenhills
State ex rel. Andwan v. Village of Greenhills
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 1} In these consolidated appeals, the village of Greenhills, Ohio, and its mayor, clerk, and municipal manager (collectively, “the village”) appeal the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of relator-appellant and crossappellee, Patricia A. Andwan, on her claim that the village had violated its duties under Ohio’s Public Records Act to provide requested records in a reasonable period of time. Andwan also appeals the trial court’s failure to award attorney fees and statutory damages for the village’s violation. Because the village complied with its statutory duty to timely provide copies of the requested records, we reverse in part.
I. Andwan’s Request for Village Records
{¶ 2} On September 1, 2009, Andwan, a village resident, hand-delivered two letters to the village. Pursuant to the Public Records Act, R.C. 149.43, she requested copies of an extensive list of public records. Andwan requested the following: (1) copies of all official minutes of the village’s Planning Commission from January 1, 1995, to the present, (2) copies of all official minutes of the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals from January 1, 1995, to the present, (3) copies of all resolutions or recommendations of the village’s Planning Commission from January 1, 1995, to the present that were not attached to the requested minutes, (4) copies of all resolutions or recommendations of the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals from January 1, 1995, to the present that were not attached to the requested minutes, (5) copies of all executed contracts entered into by the village pursuant to ordinance No. 2009-19-CD, (6) copies of all quotations, RFPs [requests for proposals], or RFQs [requests for quotations] for any contract or potential contract pursuant to ordinance No. 2009-19-CD, (7) copies of all records of any payment, purchase order, or invoice related to any work performed or proposed to be performed on all properties owned by the village and located at
{¶ 3} The village had only three full-time administrative personnel: Jane A. Berry, the municipal manager, a finance director, and an assistant to the municipal manager and the village property manager. Berry was the employee assigned to respond to public-records requests in addition to her regularly assigned duties as municipal manager. The records Andwan had requested were kept in various storage facilities and rooms within the Village Hall, including the village archives located in its basement. Some records had to be retrieved from the filing and records systems of other village departments and offices. After retrieving the requested records, Berry had to review the records to determine what, if any, information had to be redacted from the documents and then to copy the records.
II. The Writ of Mandamus
{¶ 4} On September 14, 2009, nine business days after delivering her public-records request, and having received no response from the village, Andwan filed a verified complaint for a writ of mandamus seeking release of the records.
III. The Trial Court’s Summary-Judgment Entry
{¶ 6} Even though Andwan’s records request had been fulfilled, this litigation continued. A requestor’s claim “for attorney fees in a public-records mandamus action is not rendered moot by the provision of the requested records after the case has been filed.”
{¶ 7} The trial court conducted a hearing on December 9, 2009. At its conclusion, the court declared, “I find that there is a technical violation. I’m awarding $900 in damages. There will be no attorney fees.” The trial court ultimately journalized an entry granting in part and denying in part the cross-motions for summary judgment. The court declared that “[t]he public records sought by the two public records requests at issue in this case having been produced after the commencement of this action, the request for the writ of mandamus is denied as being moot. While the Court finds [that the village] failed to timely respond affirmatively or negatively to [Andwan’s] public records request, the Court considers such a violation of the public records Act to be a technical violation and, accordingly, [Andwan] shall only be awarded a total of $900 for statutory damages and no attorney fees shall be awarded.”
IV. The Village’s Appeal of Its Public-Records Violation
{¶ 8} In the single assignment of error raised in its cross-appeal, the village argues that the trial court erred in entering summary judgment in favor of Andwan on the issue whether the village had violated the Public Records Act. The village contends that it fulfilled Andwan’s records request within a reasonable time as required by R.C. 149.43(B)(1). Andwan contends that the village’s response was tardy and that the village’s failure to comply with its own public-records policy constituted a separate violation of R.C. 149.43.
{¶ 10} The function of summary judgment is to determine from the evidentiary materials whether triable factual issues exist, regardless of whether the facts are complex.
{¶ 11} The Public Records Act provides that all public records shall be made available for inspection upon request.
{¶ 12} Under R.C. 149.43(B)(1), when a person makes a request for public records, the public office or person responsible for the public records shall promptly prepare the documents and make them available for inspection by the
{¶ 13} The act does not define the term “a reasonable period of time.” Consequently the determination whether the village complied with its “statutory duty to timely provide copies of the requested records depends upon all of the pertinent facts and circumstances.”
{¶ 14} In State ex rel. Morgan v. Strickland, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives requested records from the governor’s office concerning the governor’s proposed school-funding plan.
{¶ 15} The next day, the governor’s office provided some of the records and noted that it was working on the request and was reviewing the correspondence to redact protected information before releasing further records.
{¶ 16} In ruling on the writ, the Supreme Court noted that, pursuant to R.C. 149.43(E)(1), the governor had adopted a public-records policy that required his
{¶ 17} Because the governor’s office continued to provide requested documents as its search progressed, the court granted only a limited writ of mandamus to compel the continued review. The court denied the requestor’s request for attorney fees and statutory damages.
{¶ 18} The scope of the request and the resources available to the public office to process the request are key factors in determining whether a response has been provided in a reasonable period of time. For example, a requestor was granted a writ of mandamus to compel the city of Cleveland to provide access to routine motor-vehicle accident reports within eight days after the accidents had occurred because a delay of over 24 days was not reasonable.
{¶ 19} Here, construing the pertinent facts and circumstances most strongly in favor of the requestor, we conclude that the village complied with its statutory duty to timely provide copies of the requested records.
{¶ 21} Nothing in this decision is to be construed to imply that the promptness or the timeliness of the provision of public records cannot be a matter of great importance to a requestor. As the supreme court has noted, “[wjhen records are available for public inspection * * * is often as important as what records are available.”
V. Andwan’s Appeal for Attorney Fees and Statutory Costs
{¶ 22} In Andwan’s first assignment of error, in appeal No. C-100011, she contends that the trial court erred in failing to award mandatory attorney fees under R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(b)(i) and (ii). Even when a requestor’s mandamus claim has been dismissed as moot, the requestor’s claim for attorney fees is not necessarily rendered moot.
{¶ 24} The third assignment of error, in which Andwan contends that the trial court erred in not awarding $1,800 in statutory damages under R.C. 149.43(C)(1), is also overruled. R.C. 149.43(C)(1) provides that a “if a court determines that the public office or the person responsible for public records failed to comply with an obligation in accordance with division (B) of this section,” the requestor is entitled to recover statutory damages “fixed at one hundred dollars for each business day during which the public office or person responsible for the requested public records failed to comply with an obligation in accordance with division (B) of this section.” Because the village did not violate a duty under R.C. 149.43(B)(1), Andwan is not entitled to any fixed statutory damages. Thus, she cannot demonstrate that she is entitled to judgment as a matter of law or otherwise on her statutory-damages claim.
VI. Conclusion
{¶ 25} Having overruled each of Andwan’s assignments of error, and having sustained the village’s sole assignment of error by holding that the village had not violated R.C. 149.43(B)(1) in fulfilling Andwan’s request in a reasonable time, we reverse that portion of the trial court’s judgment denying the village’s motion for summary judgment on Andwan’s claims and grant the village’s motion for summary judgment. We reverse the trial court’s award of fixed statutory damages and affirm its denial of an award of attorney fees to Andwan.
Judgment accordingly.
. See R.C. 149.43(C)(1).
. See State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Krings (2001), 93 Ohio St.3d 654, 657, 758 N.E.2d 1135; see also State ex rel. Seikbert v. Wilkinson (1994), 69 Ohio St.3d 489, 490, 633 N.E.2d 1128.
. State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Heath, 121 Ohio St.3d 165, 2009-Ohio-590, 902 N.E.2d 976, ¶ 18; see also State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Ronan, 124 Ohio St.3d 17, 2009-Ohio-5947, 918 N.E.2d 515, ¶ 10.
. R.C. 149.43(C)(1); see also State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Allen, 1st Dist. No. C-040838, 2005-Ohio-4856, 2005 WL 2249110, ¶ 9.
. See Costanzo v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 161 Ohio App.3d 759, 2005-Ohio-3170, 832 N.E.2d 71, ¶ 10.
. See Doe v. Shaffer (2000), 90 Ohio St.3d 388, 738 N.E.2d 1243; see also Polen v. Baker (2001), 92 Ohio St.3d 563, 564-565, 752 N.E.2d 258.
. See Gross v. Western-Southern Life Ins. Co. (1993), 85 Ohio App.3d 662, 666-667, 621 N.E.2d 412.
. See Civ.R. 56(C); see also Dresher v. Burt (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 280, 293, 662 N.E.2d 264.
. See R.C. 149.43(B).
. Sellers, Sealed with an Acquittal: When Not Guilty Means Never Having to Say You Were Tried (2003), 32 Cap.U.L.Rev. 1, 21-22; see also R.C. 149.43(B).
. R.C. 149.43(B)(1).
. State ex rel. Morgan v. Strickland, 121 Ohio St.3d 600, 2009-Ohio-1901, 906 N.E.2d 1105, ¶ 10, citing State ex rel. Consumer News Servs., Inc. v. Worthington Bd. of Edn., 97 Ohio St.3d 58, 2002-Ohio-5311, 776 N.E.2d 82, ¶ 37-38.
. See id. at ¶ 3.
. See id. at ¶ 4
. See id.
. See id. at V 5.
. See id. at V 6.
. Id. at ¶ 13.
. See id. at ¶ 172.
. See id. at ¶ 20, 22.
. See State ex rel. Wadd v. Cleveland (1998), 81 Ohio St.3d 50, 689 N.E.2d 25.
. See State ex rel. Morgan v. Strickland, 121 Ohio St.3d 600, 2009-Ohio-1901, 906 N.E.2d 1105, at ¶ 10.
. See id. at ¶ 13.
. (Emphasis sic.) State ex rel. Wadd v. Cleveland, 81 Ohio St.3d at 52, 689 N.E.2d 25; see, e.g., State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Ronan, 124 Ohio St.3d 17, 2009-Ohio-5947, 918 N.E.2d 515 (public-records request for documents submitted by prospective candidates for a school superintendent position).
. See State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Heath, 121 Ohio St.3d 165, 2009-Ohio-590, 902 N.E.2d 976, at ¶ 18; see also State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Ronan at ¶ 10.
. See State ex rel. Pennington v. Gundler (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 171, 661 N.E.2d 1049, syllabus.
. See R.C. 149.43(B)(1); see also R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(b)(i) and (ii).
. See Civ.R. 56(C).
. See App.R. 12(A)(1)(c).
. See Civ.R. 56(C).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.