Ellis v. Cuyahoga Cty. Prosecutor's Office

Citations

• 2018 Ohio 3479

Syllabus

Core Terms: public record court of claims R.C. 2743.75 R.C. 149.43(B)(8) inmate standing res judicata. Overview: Requester inmate and his designees sought records pertaining to his criminal case. The Prosecutor's Office argued that Ellis lacked standing to seek enforcement of requests filed by designees, that a previous determination rendered this case res judicata, and that Ellis had not complied with the procedure required by R.C. 149.43(B)(8) for inmates seeking law enforcement investigatory records. The Special Master recommended that the court find, 1) Ellis had standing to seek enforcement of requests filed by designees, 2) Ellis' previous action did not operate as res judicata, and 3) Ellis has not shown that he has complied with R.C. 149.43(B)(8), and thus is not entitled to production of records. Ellis objected that the special master erred in concluding that his designees were subject the same limitations in R.C. 149.43(B)(8) that applied to Ellis himself. Outcome: Based on Ellis' failure to affirmatively plead in his complaint that he met all of the requirements of R.C. 149.43(B)(8), the court modified the report and recommendation to find that the prosecutor's office's contention that Ellis had failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted was not wholly without merit. The court overruled Ellis' objections, and adopted the special master's report and recommendation as modified.