Case Title: State ex rel. Ware v. Pureval

Citation: 2020-Ohio-4024

Docket Number: 2020-0162

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2020-08-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State 
ex rel. Ware v. Pureval, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-4024.] 
 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an 
advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested to 
promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65 
South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other 
formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before 
the opinion is published. 
 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2020-OHIO-4024 
THE STATE EX REL. WARE, APPELLANT, v. PUREVAL, CLERK, APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Ware v. Pureval, Slip Opinion No.  
2020-Ohio-4024.] 
Mandamus—A complaint should not be dismissed based on a clerk’s error not 
caused by party that filed complaint—Court of appeals’ dismissal of 
complaint for inmate’s alleged failure to file affidavit of prior actions 
required by R.C. 2969.25(A) reversed and cause remanded. 
(No. 2020-0162—Submitted May 12, 2020—Decided August 12, 2020.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Hamilton County, No. C-190563. 
________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Appellant, Kimani Ware, appeals the dismissal of his complaint for a 
writ of mandamus against appellee, Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab 
Pureval, to compel the production of various public records.  For the reason stated 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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below, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the case for 
further proceedings. 
Background and procedural history 
{¶ 2} Ware is an inmate at the Trumbull Correctional Institution.  On 
January 23, 2019, he sent ten separate public-records requests by certified mail to 
Pureval.  All ten requests indicated that they were “public records request[s] 
pursuant to R.C. 149.43.” 
{¶ 3} The office responded separately to each request with the same form 
letter stating that the request was “subject to approval from the judge who sentenced 
[Ware] (or their successor) according to Section 149.43(B)(8) of the Ohio Revised 
Code.”  On February 22, 2019, Ware wrote back to the office, arguing that his 
requests were not subject to R.C. 149.43(B)(8).  The office responded by sending 
back the same form letter. 
{¶ 4} On October 1, 2019, Ware filed a complaint for a writ of mandamus 
in the First District Court of Appeals.  The court of appeals granted Pureval’s 
motion to dismiss based on Ware’s alleged failure to file an affidavit of prior 
actions, as required by R.C. 2969.25(A). 
Legal analysis 
{¶ 5} The court of appeals dismissed Ware’s complaint for noncompliance 
with R.C. 2969.25(A).  That statute requires an inmate who commences in the court 
of appeals a civil action against a government entity or employee to file an affidavit 
describing “each civil action or appeal of a civil action that the inmate has filed in 
the previous five years in any state or federal court.”  The affidavit must include (1) 
a brief description of the nature of the civil action or appeal, (2) the case name, case 
number, and court in which the action or appeal was brought, (3) the name of each 
party to each action or appeal, and (4) the outcome of each action or appeal.  Id.  
Compliance with R.C. 2969.25(A) is mandatory, and the failure to comply warrants 
January Term, 2020 
 
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dismissal of the action.  State v. Henton, 146 Ohio St.3d 9, 2016-Ohio-1518, 50 
N.E.3d 553, ¶ 3. 
{¶ 6} In his motion to dismiss, Pureval alleged that Ware had not filed an 
affidavit of prior civil actions as required by R.C. 2969.25(A).  Ware filed a brief 
in opposition to the motion, claiming that he did comply with R.C. 2969.25(A).  In 
its decision, the court of appeals concluded that although Ware “insists that he did 
file an affidavit of prior actions, no such affidavit appears in the record.” 
{¶ 7} On appeal, Ware has presented his affidavit of prior civil actions, 
which was date-stamped on October 1, 2019, by the First District.  The time-
stamped affidavit supports Ware’s allegation that he complied with the statute and 
that the clerk’s office failed to place the affidavit in the court file.  See Zanesville 
v. Rouse, 126 Ohio St.3d 1, 2010-Ohio-2218, 929 N.E.2d 1044, ¶ 8-9 (endorsement 
by the clerk of the fact and date of the filing is evidence of the filing), vacated in 
part on reconsideration on other grounds, 126 Ohio St.3d 1227, 2010-Ohio-3754, 
933 N.E.2d 260; Sup.R. 44(E) (“ ‘file’ means to deposit a document with a clerk of 
court, upon the occurrence of which the clerk time or date stamps and dockets the 
document”). 
{¶ 8} This case involves an original action instituted in the court of appeals, 
and it appears that the court’s sole basis for dismissing the complaint may have 
been the result of a docketing error.  A complaint should not be dismissed based on 
a clerk’s error that was not caused by the party that filed the complaint.  See 
Columber v. Kenton, 111 Ohio St. 211, 145 N.E. 12 (1924) (holding that appeal 
should not have been dismissed for failure to file a transcript, because error had 
been made by clerk of the common pleas court, not the appellant).  We therefore 
reverse the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing Ware’s complaint, and we 
remand for the court to review in the first instance whether the affidavit was filed 
and otherwise complies with the requirements of R.C. 2969.25(A). 
 
 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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Conclusion 
{¶ 9} We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals, and we remand the 
case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 
 
 
Judgment reversed 
and cause remanded. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and KENNEDY, FRENCH, FISCHER, DEWINE, DONNELLY, 
and STEWART, JJ., concur. 
_________________ 
Kimani Ware, pro se. 
_________________