Case Title: State ex rel. Ellis v. Maple Heights Police Department

Citation: 2019-Ohio-4137

Docket Number: 2019-0258

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2019-10-10T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State 
ex rel. Ellis v. Maple Hts. Police Dept., Slip Opinion No. 2019-Ohio-4137.] 
 
 
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. 2019-OHIO-4137 
THE STATE EX REL. ELLIS, APPELLANT, v. MAPLE HEIGHTS POLICE 
DEPARTMENT, APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Ellis v. Maple Hts. Police Dept.,  
Slip Opinion No. 2019-Ohio-4137.] 
Mandamus—Public records—R.C. 149.43—Relator’s claim is moot because a 
custodian of a record satisfied its clear legal duty by mailing responsive 
documents to address provided by relator—Judgment denying writ of 
mandamus affirmed. 
(No. 2019-0258—Submitted July 9, 2019—Decided October 10, 2019.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County, No. 107572, 
2019-Ohio-367. 
__________________ 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Appellant, L’Ddaryl Ellis, a prison inmate, filed an action in the Eighth 
District Court of Appeals seeking a writ of mandamus to compel appellee, Maple 
Heights Police Department (“MHPD”), to provide public records he had requested.  
The court of appeals denied the writ, and we affirm. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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Background 
{¶ 2} On Thursday, July 5, 2018, MHPD received a request from Ellis 
seeking: 
 
(1) All incident reports, books, papers, documents, 
photographs, tangible objects, buildings, or places, memorandum, 
memo notes, emails, transfer papers, etc… 
(2) Copies of all records retention schedule, records retention 
policy, and Public records Policy. 
 
The request also referred to “Incident No. 12-18391,” and in his merit brief filed in 
this case, Ellis clarifies that his request “pertain[s] to records in Incident Report No. 
12-18391.” 
{¶ 3} MHPD processes new records requests each Wednesday and reviewed 
Ellis’s request on Wednesday, July 11.  The next day, MHPD’s records clerk mailed 
Ellis a two-page incident report and a one-page document that appears to be a 
records-retention schedule.  In an affidavit, MHPD’s records clerk states that MHPD 
mailed all the documents responsive to Ellis’s public-records request to the address 
Ellis provided.  But in his own affidavit, Ellis states that he has not received any 
documents from MHPD. 
{¶ 4} In August 2018, Ellis filed a mandamus action in the Eighth District 
alleging that MHPD did not respond to his request as required under R.C. 149.43(B).  
The court of appeals denied the writ, finding that Ellis’s request was “extremely 
vague and overly broad,” 2019-Ohio-367, ¶ 2, that he had not complied with R.C. 
149.43(B)(8), and that his claim was moot because MHPD gave him all responsive 
documents.  Finding that MHPD had promptly responded to Ellis’s request, the 
Eighth District denied his request for statutory damages.  Ellis has appealed here as 
of right. 
January Term, 2019 
3 
 
Analysis 
{¶ 5} “Mandamus is the appropriate remedy to compel compliance with R.C. 
149.43, Ohio’s Public Records Act.”  State ex rel. Physicians Commt. for Responsible 
Medicine v. Ohio State Univ. Bd. of Trustees, 108 Ohio St.3d 288, 2006-Ohio-903, 
843 N.E.2d 174, ¶ 6.  To prevail on a claim for mandamus relief in a public-records 
case, a party must establish a clear legal right to the requested relief and a 
corresponding clear legal duty on the part of the respondent to provide that relief.  
State ex rel. Am. Civ. Liberties Union of Ohio, Inc. v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Commrs., 
128 Ohio St.3d 256, 2011-Ohio-625, 943 N.E.2d 553, ¶ 22-24. 
{¶ 6} The court of appeals correctly found that Ellis’s mandamus claim is 
moot.  MHPD presented evidence that it had mailed the requested incident report and 
records-retention schedule to the address Ellis provided and that these documents 
constituted all the records responsive to his request.  Despite this evidence, Ellis still 
maintains that he did not receive responsive records.  Although it is possible that Ellis 
has not received the documents, he has not contradicted the evidence showing that 
MHPD satisfied any duty it may have had by mailing him the responsive documents.  
And he has not shown that any additional responsive documents exist. 
{¶ 7} Because MHPD satisfied its duty in relation to Ellis’s request, the 
mandamus claim is moot.  See State ex rel. Toledo Blade Co. v. Toledo-Lucas Cty. 
Port Auth., 121 Ohio St.3d 537, 2009-Ohio-1767, 905 N.E.2d 1221, ¶ 14.  We note, 
however, that Ellis could request the records again, if in fact he has not already 
received them.  Of course, MHPD could spare Ellis the trouble and resend the three 
pages of records. 
{¶ 8} As a final matter, we affirm the court of appeals’ determination that 
Ellis is not entitled to an award of statutory damages.  Under R.C. 149.43(C)(2), an 
award of statutory damages requires a determination that the public office or person 
responsible for the public records failed to comply with an obligation under R.C. 
149.43(B).  Given that MHPD fully responded to Ellis’s request within eight days of 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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receiving it, the court of appeals properly denied his request for statutory damages.  
See State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Pike Cty. Coroner’s Office, 153 Ohio St.3d 
63, 2017-Ohio-8988, 101 N.E.3d 396, ¶ 58-59. 
Judgment affirmed. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and KENNEDY, FRENCH, FISCHER, DEWINE, DONNELLY, 
and STEWART, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
L’Ddaryl Ellis, pro se. 
Frank Consolo, Maple Heights Law Director; and Consolo Law Firm Co., 
L.P.A., and Horace F. Consolo, for appellee. 
________________________