Case Title: State ex rel. McGrath v. McDonnell

Citation: 2010-Ohio-4726

Docket Number: 20101131

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2010-10-06T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State ex rel. McGrath v. McDonnell, Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-4726.] 
 
 
 
 
 
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. 2010-OHIO-4726 
THE STATE EX REL. MCGRATH, APPELLANT, v. MCDONNELL, JUDGE, 
APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. McGrath v. McDonnell,  
Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-4726.] 
Writ of mandamus — R.C. 2969.25 — Failure to attach required affidavits to 
petition requires dismissal of complaint — Judgment affirmed. 
(No. 2010-1131 — Submitted September 28, 2010 — Decided October 6, 2010.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County, 
No. 94819, 2010-Ohio-2610. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing the 
complaint of appellant, Joseph McGrath, for a writ of mandamus to compel 
appellee, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nancy R. McDonnell, 
to vacate his sentence in State v. McGrath, Cuyahoga Cty. C.P. case No. CR-04-
449129-ZA.  Appellant failed to attach the required affidavits to his petition 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
 
pursuant to R.C. 2969.25.  “The requirements of R.C. 2969.25 are mandatory, and 
failure to comply with them subjects an inmate’s action to dismissal.”  State ex 
rel. White v. Bechtel, 99 Ohio St.3d 11, 2003-Ohio-2262, 788 N.E.2d 634, ¶ 5; 
State ex rel. Hawk v. Athens Cty., 106 Ohio St.3d 183, 2005-Ohio-4383, 833 
N.E.2d 296, ¶ 5. 
{¶ 2} McGrath failed to file an affidavit containing a description of each 
civil action or appeal of a civil action that he had filed in the previous five years 
in any state or federal court, in violation of R.C. 2969.25(A).  Furthermore, he 
failed to include in his affidavit of indigency a statement setting forth the balance 
in his inmate account for each of the preceding six months, as certified by the 
institutional cashier, in violation of R.C. 2969.25(C). 
{¶ 3} Notwithstanding McGrath’s claims to the contrary, R.C. 2969.25 
applies to his mandamus complaint because he is an inmate,1 and his mandamus 
case is a civil case for purposes of R.C. 2969.21(B)(1)(a), which addresses inmate 
actions against government entities.  See Fuqua v. Williams, 100 Ohio St.3d 211, 
2003-Ohio-5533, 797 N.E.2d 982, ¶ 7 (“under Ohio law, state writ actions are 
civil actions”); Hawk, 106 Ohio St.3d 183, 2005-Ohio-4383, 833 N.E.2d 296, ¶ 3 
(applying R.C. 2969.25 to mandamus case instituted in court of appeals).  
McGrath has also failed to establish how the requirements of R.C. 2969.25(A) 
and (C) violate his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination.  These 
requirements do not compel McGrath to answer questions that “might incriminate 
[him] in future criminal proceedings.”  State ex rel. Verhovec v. Mascio (1998), 
81 Ohio St.3d 334, 336, 691 N.E.2d 282.  Therefore, dismissal of McGrath’s 
mandamus claim was appropriate. 
Judgment affirmed. 
                                                 
1.  Although McGrath listed a Gates Mills residential address when he filed his complaint in the 
court of appeals, he was actually incarcerated at Lake Erie Correctional Institution on that date and 
remains there.  See http://www.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch/Search.aspx.  In fact, McGrath lists 
the prison’s address on his appellate brief. 
January Term, 2010 
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BROWN, 
C.J., 
and 
PFEIFER, 
LUNDBERG 
STRATTON, 
O’CONNOR, 
O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, and CUPP, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
Joseph McGrath, pro se. 
 
William D. Mason, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and James E. 
Moss, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. 
______________________