Cincinnati Enquirer v. Cincinnati

Citations

• 2019 Ohio 1613

Syllabus

Core Terms: public record court of claims R.C. 2743.75 R.C. 149.43 R.C. 149.011(G) personal text message person responsible overly broad. Overview: Requester sought text messages between five members of city council over a period of four months. Respondent argued that a public official's text messages sent or received on a personal, privately-paid-for cell phone cannot meet the definition of \records\ under RC. 149.011(G), are not \kept by\ the office, and are thus not subject to the Public Records Act. The special master found that a text message stored on the personal device of a city official is a public record if its content meets the definition of \records\ in R.C. 149.011(G) and \public record\ in R.C. 149.43(A)(1). The special master found that the request in this case was overly broad in seeking all text messages sent or received between five officials over the substantial period of four months, and recommended the court grant the motion to dismiss on that ground. Neither party filed objections. Outcome: The court found no error of law or other defect on the face of the special master's decision and adopted the report and recommendation as its own.