Title: State ex rel. Hedenberg v. North Central Correctional Complex

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State 
ex rel. Hedenberg v. N. Cent. Corr. Complex, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-3815.] 
 
 
 
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-3815 
THE STATE EX REL. HEDENBERG, v. NORTH CENTRAL CORRECTIONAL 
COMPLEX ET AL. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Hedenberg v. N. Cent. Corr. Complex, Slip 
Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-3815.] 
Public 
records—R.C. 
149.43—Mandamus—Statutory 
damages—Writ 
of 
mandamus will not issue when uncontroverted evidence shows requested 
documents do not exist—Use of prison kite to request public records does 
not qualify requester for award of statutory damages—Writ of mandamus 
and request for statutory damages denied. 
(No. 2018-1117—Submitted January 7, 2020—Decided July 28, 2020.) 
IN MANDAMUS. 
________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Relator, Jonathan Hedenberg, seeks a writ of mandamus to compel 
the production of public records.  We deny the writ because the evidence establishes 
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that respondents, the North Central Correctional Complex, Warden Neil Turner, 
Deputy Warden Becky Joyce, “Mr. Potter,” “Mr. Minchaka,” and “Management 
Training Corp.,”1 (“NCCC”), do not possess documents responsive to Hedenberg’s 
public-records requests.  In addition, we deny Hedenberg’s request for an award of 
statutory damages and court costs. 
I. Background 
{¶ 2} Hedenberg was an inmate at NCCC at the time that he filed his public-
records requests.2  On March 21, 2018, he sent a public-records request to Joyce 
for “records, sign up sheets, for the word processors and lexis nexis from a time 
period of Nov. 12th, 2015 to Feb. 8th, 2016.”  Just over a week later, he made a 
second request for the sign-up sheets, this time addressed to Turner. 
{¶ 3} On May 9, 2018, Hedenberg sent a request to Potter, again requesting 
the word-processor and LexisNexis sign-up sheets.  And on that same date, he also 
sent a request to Mr. Minchaka in the “I.T.” department.  In the request to 
Minchaka, in addition to asking for the sign-up sheets, Hedenberg requested “any 
logs, e-mails, maintenance requests, or other related documents, that pertain to the 
printer/copiers contained in the Special Services Building” that had been created in 
late January or February 2016, including “any document that may show when the 
printers broke.” 
{¶ 4} In August 2018, Hedenberg filed his complaint for a writ of 
mandamus.  He alleged that “Ms. McKenna,” a former NCCC librarian, had given 
him a copy of a Ricoh work order, but that he had not been provided any other 
documents he sought.  In addition to NCCC, his complaint named as a respondent 
Attorney General Mike DeWine.  We granted the Attorney General’s motion to 
                                                 
1.  Management and Training Corporation is a private company that operates NCCC. 
 
2.  Hedenberg has since been transferred to another institution.   
January Term, 2020 
 
3
dismiss, dismissed him as a respondent, and sua sponte granted an alternative writ 
and set a briefing schedule. 
{¶ 5} Pursuant to that order, the parties filed evidence and Hedenberg filed 
a merit brief with a supplement titled “Declaratory Statement under 28 U.S.C. 
1746.”  When NCCC filed its brief, it captioned it as both a merit brief and a motion 
to dismiss.  We denied NCCC’s motion to dismiss and ordered NCCC to provide 
to this court under seal “the documents requested by relator in his complaint.” 
{¶ 6} In response, NCCC filed an affidavit from Robyn Boden, the finance 
manager at NCCC, in which Boden attests that NCCC does not have documents 
responsive to Hedenberg’s requests.  Hedenberg did not respond to that filing, nor 
did he file a reply brief. 
II. Analysis 
{¶ 7} Mandamus is the appropriate remedy by which to compel compliance 
with Ohio’s Public Records Act, R.C. 149.43.  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.  However, a writ of mandamus will not issue 
when the uncontroverted evidence shows that the requested documents do not exist.  
State ex rel. Lanham v. Smith, 112 Ohio St.3d 527, 2007-Ohio-609, 861 N.E.2d 
530, ¶ 15. 
{¶ 8} In its initial evidentiary filing, NCCC submitted an affidavit from 
Turner in which he attests that “NCCC does not save or maintain sign-in sheets for 
word processor use available for inmates in the NCCC library or Lexis sign-up 
sheets in the NCCC library.”  He further attests that “[i]nmates may have been 
requested to sign in before using the word processors and Lexis to establish the 
order of inmate usage, however, any such sign-in sheets were discarded and not 
saved or maintained.”  In conclusion, Turner attests that “no requested sign in sheets 
were retained.  NCCC does not have in its possession the records requested by 
Relator, and therefore, cannot produce any.” 
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{¶ 9} To refute Turner’s claims, Hedenberg submitted as part of his merit 
brief a document that he titled “Declaratory Statement Under 28 U.S.C. 1746.”  
Hedenberg purported to sign the document under penalty of perjury, but the 
document is not notarized.  NCCC argues that Hedenberg’s unsworn declaration is 
invalid and should not be considered as substantive evidence.  We need not address 
this contention, however, because even if we were to consider Hedenberg’s 
unsworn declaration as evidence, it fails to refute Turner’s evidence that the 
LexisNexis sign-up sheets do not exist.  In the declaration that Hedenberg filed as 
part of his brief, Hedenberg asserts that the NCCC library “is still maintaining a 
complete copy of 2017 logs” for LexisNexis sign-ups.  But his requests had sought 
records from 2015 and 2016, so this assertion does not further his claim.  With 
respect to the older records, Hedenberg states that “Ms. Weidner,” who he describes 
as a former librarian at NCCC, maintained several years of LexisNexis sign-up 
sheets.  Hedenberg also states that 
 
[u]pon Ms. McKenna’s termination of employment, Mr. Cedar and 
Mr. Smith took guardianship of the NCCI library, and removed 
documents from the library and office, either storing or disposing of 
these documents.  Any documents they stored were alleged to be 
stored in a storage space off the library.  The documents I seek in 
my complaint were part of the above described documents in 
question. 
 
(Emphasis added.)  Hedenberg concedes that Potter had searched the storage areas 
and did not find the documents.  Thus, Hedenberg offers little evidence that the 
documents still exist. 
{¶ 10} Hedenberg also requested “any logs, e-mails, maintenance requests, 
or other related documents, that pertain to the printer/copiers contained in the 
January Term, 2020 
 
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Special Services Building” that had been created in late-January or February 2016, 
including “any document that may show when the printers broke.”  But Boden 
attests in her affidavit that “NCCC does not have any service records and/or work 
orders for the subject Ricoh printer for the time period referenced.”  According to 
Boden, when service is required, NCCC makes a service request by telephone and 
maintains no records of such requests. 
{¶ 11} Hedenberg did not respond to the Boden affidavit.  And his 
declaration sheds little light on whether the printer-maintenance records he seeks 
exist.  He states that 
 
(vi)  The Ricoh copier is serviced by an external contractor, 
a Ricoh Store, and there have been two separate contractors while 
the Relator was housed at NCCI. 
I have already been provided a copy of the Ricoh Stores 
workorder, but it does not help to identify the date of the Ricoh’s 
breakdown; it provides the date the Ricoh workorder was created 
and an estimated date of completion described on the form as the 
date of the completion. 
 
Nothing in Hedenberg’s declaration supports his contention that additional 
documents remain to be produced, or that a document exists that shows “the date 
of the Ricoh’s breakdown.” 
{¶ 12} For these reasons, Hedenberg’s evidence that NCCC has documents 
responsive to his requests is unpersuasive.  We therefore deny his request for a writ 
of mandamus. 
{¶ 13} In his complaint, Hedenberg requested an award of statutory 
damages and court costs.  Court costs may be awarded in a public-records case in 
two circumstances.  First, an award of court costs is mandatory when the court 
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grants a writ of mandamus compelling a public office to comply with its duties 
under the Public Records Act.  R.C. 149.43(C)(3)(a)(i).  Second, court costs shall 
be awarded when the court determines that the public office “acted in bad faith 
when [it] made the public records available to the relator for the first time after the 
relator commenced the mandamus action, but before the court issued any order 
concluding whether or not” to grant a writ of mandamus.  See R.C. 
149.43(C)(3)(a)(ii) and (iii).  Neither scenario applies to the facts of this case, and 
therefore Hedenberg is not entitled to an award of court costs. 
{¶ 14} Nor is Hedenberg eligible for an award of statutory damages.  
Statutory damages are available only if Hedenberg proves by clear and convincing 
evidence that he had delivered his request “by hand delivery, electronic submission, 
or certified mail.”  R.C. 149.43(C)(2); State ex rel. Martin v. Greene, 156 Ohio 
St.3d 482, 2019-Ohio-1827, 129 N.E.3d 419, ¶ 9.  Hedenberg concedes that he 
delivered his requests through the prison “kite” system.  “A ‘kite’ is written by an 
inmate to a member of the prison staff and is ‘a means for inmates to contact staff 
members inside [an] institution.’ ”  Greene at ¶ 3, fn. 1, quoting State v. Elmore, 
5th Dist. Richland No. 16CA52, 2017-Ohio-1472, ¶ 15.  The use of a prison kite to 
request public records does not qualify the requester for an award of statutory 
damages.  State ex rel. McDougald v. Greene, ___ Ohio St.3d ___, 2020-Ohio-
3686, ___ N.E.3d ___, ¶ 18. 
{¶ 15} For these reasons, we deny Hedenberg’s request for a writ of 
mandamus and deny his request for an award of statutory damages and court costs.
 
 
 
Writ denied. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and FRENCH, FISCHER, DEWINE, and STEWART, JJ., 
concur. 
DONNELLY, J., concurs in judgment only. 
KENNEDY, J., concurs in part and dissents in part, with an opinion. 
January Term, 2020 
 
7
_________________ 
KENNEDY, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part. 
{¶ 16} I concur in the majority’s judgment denying a writ of mandamus 
regarding one of the public-records requests filed by relator, Jonathan Hedenberg, 
namely the request for word-processor and LexisNexis sign-up sheets from 
respondents North Central Correctional Complex, certain of its officials, and the 
private company that operates the complex (“NCCC”).  I dissent, however, from 
the majority’s judgment regarding Hedenberg’s request for records concerning a 
printer at the facility that had been out of service.  Hedenberg’s first documented 
request for information about the printer was dated March 21, 2018.  It was not 
until NCCC filed an affidavit on October 1, 2019, in response to this court’s order 
to submit to it any responsive documents for in camera review, that NCCC 
informed Hedenberg that no responsive documents existed.  For over 18 months, 
NCCC led Hedenberg—and at times, this court—to believe that NCCC had 
responsive documents but that NCCC had no duty to produce them for Hedenberg.  
Because of its delay and shifting excuses regarding the records relating to the 
printer in question, NCCC failed to meet its responsibilities under R.C. 149.43(B), 
and I would therefore award Hedenberg statutory damages. 
{¶ 17} Hedenberg first requested information about the printer from Deputy 
Warden Becky Joyce on March 21, 2018: “[O]n or around Feb. 8th the 
printer/copier broke in the library.  I need to know if there is any email or record, 
other than the work order that can demonstrate exactly when it broke.”  NCCC’s 
response to Hedenberg’s request came on March 27, 2018, when Joyce wrote to 
Hedenberg, “I am not permitted to pull the records.” 
{¶ 18} On March 30, 2018, Hedenberg sent a request to Warden Neil Turner 
again asking for the records:  
 
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8
On or about Feb. 8th of 2016 the library printer/copier broke.  
I know it broke some time before Feb. 8 but, the Ricoh work order 
I have was requested Feb 8th.  I also know it was repaired Feb. 9th.  
Could you please look through the email from this time and attempt 
to find out the specific day it broke.  I need this for the court because 
the printer breaking caused me to be late in filing. 
 
* * * 
 
P.S. Dept. W. Joyce stated she is unable to “pull the records,” 
hence this letter. 
 
Turner responded, “We are unable to provide you with the information requested.” 
{¶ 19} On May 9, 2018, Hedenberg sent a request to Mr. Minchaka in the 
“I.T.” department.  He wrote, 
 
[T]he documents I seek are from February of 2016 or late January.  
The printer in the law library and another in special services was out 
of service at this time.  I need any document that may show when 
the printers broke.  I know the library computer was serviced Feb 
8th, I have a copy of the Ricoh work order. 
 
{¶ 20} Minchaka responded that Hedenberg needed to seek assistance from 
Hedenberg’s unit staff. 
{¶ 21} Hedenberg filed the present mandamus action in this court on 
August 7, 2018.  None of the named respondents affiliated with NCCC filed an 
answer.  After some delay that was not the fault of the parties, this court granted an 
alternative writ on April 26, 2019.  NCCC filed a merit brief and motion to dismiss 
on June 21, 2019.  In support of NCCC’s argument that this court should deny the 
writ, NCCC submitted an affidavit from Turner in which he stated, “Relator 
January Term, 2020 
 
9
requested work orders and related communications for the NCCC printers and 
copiers.  For security reasons, NCCC does not provide work orders and related 
documents to inmates or the public that are classified as infrastructure records or 
that relate to the computer systems at NCCC.” 
{¶ 22} NCCC argues in its merit brief that any records regarding the broken 
printer are infrastructure records under R.C. 149.433 and are therefore exempt from 
disclosure.  R.C. 149.433(A) defines “infrastructure record” as “any record that 
discloses the configuration of critical systems including, but not limited to, 
communication, computer, electrical, mechanical, ventilation, water, and plumbing 
systems, security codes, or the infrastructure or structural configuration of a 
building.”  R.C. 149.433(B)(2) states that “[a] record kept by a public office that is 
an infrastructure record of a public office, public school, or a chartered nonpublic 
school is not a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code and is not 
subject to mandatory release or disclosure under that section.”  NCCC argues that 
the records Hedenberg seeks regarding the printer relate to the infrastructure of the 
prison’s computer systems and are therefore statutorily exempt from disclosure. 
{¶ 23} This court denied NCCC’s motion to dismiss and ordered it, within 
ten days, to provide to this court for in camera review the documents requested by 
Hedenberg in his complaint.  On October 1, 2019, NCCC filed a response to that 
order, stating that there are no responsive records.  NCCC supports that statement 
with an affidavit from its finance manager, Robyn Boden, in which Boden states 
that NCCC does not maintain records of service calls made to Ricoh, the printer’s 
manufacturer.  She testifies, “No records are left with NCCC related to these service 
calls as they are covered under the service agreement between [the company that 
operates NCCC] and Ricoh.” 
{¶ 24} Finally, after over 18 months of NCCC’s non-responsive responses, 
Hedenberg’s request for records culminated in NCCC’s filing of an affidavit that 
explained that the facility has no documents responsive to the request for records 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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regarding the printer.  And only after this court ordered NCCC to produce the 
records for in camera review did NCCC directly address Hedenberg’s request. 
{¶ 25} Hedenberg requests statutory damages.  We apply the version of 
R.C. 149.433 that was in effect at the time that he made his records requests.  State 
ex rel. Kesterson v. Kent State Univ., 156 Ohio St.3d 13, 2018-Ohio-5108, 123 
N.E.3d 887, ¶ 11, fn. 1.  R.C. 149.43(C)(2) provides for statutory damages of $100 
per business day, up to $1,000, if a court determines that the public office “failed 
to comply with an obligation in accordance with division (B) of this section.”  When 
a public office receives a public-records request it is obligated to promptly provide 
any responsive records within a reasonable amount of time.  And when it denies a 
records request, it must inform the requester of that denial and provide the reasons 
for the denial.  R.C. 149.43(B)(1) and (3); State ex rel. Cordell v. Paden, 156 Ohio 
St.3d 394, 2019-Ohio-1216, 128 N.E.3d 179, ¶ 11. 
{¶ 26} As this court noted in Cordell, even if the public office has no 
responsive records to produce, its failure to respond in a timely manner with its 
reasons for its failure to produce the requested records makes it liable for statutory 
damages.  Whether the public office complied with its statutory duty to respond 
within a reasonable period of time “depends upon all of the pertinent facts and 
circumstances.”  Cordell at ¶ 12, quoting State ex rel. Morgan v. Strickland, 121 
Ohio St.3d 600, 2009-Ohio-1901, 906 N.E.2d 1105, ¶ 10.  The requester “bears the 
burden of demonstrating that the [public office’s] response to [the] public-records 
requests was unreasonably delayed.”  Id. at ¶ 12, citing State ex rel. Dispatch 
Printing Co. v. Johnson, 106 Ohio St.3d 160, 2005-Ohio-4384, 833 N.E.2d 274, 
¶ 44. 
{¶ 27} Following several requests to NCCC and its officials, Hedenberg 
received no substantive response as to why NCCC could not produce records 
                                                 
3.  Hedenberg’s complaint is governed by former R.C. 149.43, 2016 Sub.H.B. No. 71.  All 
references to R.C. 149.43 refer to that version unless otherwise noted. 
January Term, 2020 
 
11 
regarding the out-of-service printer.  The warden and deputy warden merely 
responded that they were unable or not permitted to provide the records.  Even in 
its brief to this court, NCCC  claims that the records are infrastructure records.  But 
a record concerning the status of one printer does not constitute an infrastructure 
record; an infrastructure record is instead “any record that discloses the 
configuration of critical systems.”  R.C. 149.433(A).  What Hedenberg sought had 
nothing to do with the configuration of a critical system. 
{¶ 28} Hedenberg meets his burden of proving that respondents’ response 
regarding the out-of-service printer was unreasonably delayed.  Still, Hedenberg is 
not entitled to statutory damages unless he made his records request “by hand 
delivery or certified mail.”  R.C. 149.43(C)(2).  “Hand delivery” is not defined in 
the statute.  There is no dispute in this case that Hedenberg made his requests 
through the prison “kite” system.  “A ‘kite’ is written by an inmate to a member of 
the prison staff and is ‘a means for inmates to contact staff members inside [an] 
institution.’ ”  State ex rel. Martin v. Greene, 156 Ohio St.3d 482, 2019-Ohio-1827, 
129 N.E.3d 419, ¶ 3, fn. 1, quoting State v. Elmore, 5th Dist. Richland No. 16CA52, 
2017-Ohio-1472, ¶ 15.  Because I would hold that requesting public records by kite 
constitutes hand delivery, see State ex rel. McDougald v. Greene, ___ Ohio St.3d 
___, 2020-Ohio-3686, ___ N.E.3d ___, ¶ 60 (Kennedy, J., dissenting), I would also 
hold that Hedenberg is eligible to receive statutory damages under R.C. 
149.43(C)(2). 
{¶ 29} Statutory damages are calculated at the rate of $100 for every 
business day that the public office or person responsible for the requested public 
records failed to comply with an obligation under R.C. 149.43(B), starting from the 
date on which the requester filed his or her mandamus complaint, with a maximum 
award of $1,000.  R.C. 149.43(C)(2).  Hedenberg filed his mandamus complaint on 
August 7, 2018, yet he could not have learned that NCCC lacked any responsive 
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records until NCCC informed this court of that fact nearly 14 months later on 
October 1, 2019, so he is eligible for the maximum amount of statutory damages. 
{¶ 30} A court may decline to award statutory damages or reduce the 
amount of the award if it finds that based on the public-records law that existed at 
the time of the alleged conduct that constituted the failure to comply with R.C. 
149.43 “a well-informed public office or person responsible for the requested 
public records * * * reasonably would believe that the conduct * * * did not 
constitute a failure to comply * * * with [R.C. 149.43(B)],” R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(a), 
and also that “a well-informed public office or person responsible for the requested 
public records reasonably would believe that the conduct * * * would serve the 
public policy that underlies the authority that is asserted as permitting that conduct,” 
R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(b).  Neither of the reduction factors apply in this case.  
Hedenberg sought only the service records for a specific printer covering a specific 
period of time, which could not reasonably be considered to be infrastructure 
records if they existed.  Therefore, I would hold that Hedenberg is entitled to an 
award of $1,000 in statutory damages. 
{¶ 31} In accordance with our duty to uphold the law as it is written, I would 
determine that NCCC is liable for statutory damages for its failure to fully comply 
with R.C. 149.43(B)(1) and (3) and to provide Hedenberg a timely response 
outlining the reasons for its denial of his request for records relating to the out-of-
service printer.  But the majority seems content to let NCCC and its employees flout 
the law. 
{¶ 32} Although Hedenberg is an incarcerated individual, he has the same 
right as any other person to access certain public records documenting disclosable 
prison procedures.  Therefore, I would award Hedenberg statutory damages in the 
amount of $1,000.  Because the majority determines differently, I dissent. 
_________________ 
Jonathan Hedenberg, pro se. 
January Term, 2020 
 
13 
Mansour Gavin, L.P.A., Michael P. Quinlan, and Kenneth E. Smith, for 
respondents. 
_________________