Title: State ex rel. Summit County Republican Party Executive Committee v. LaRose

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. Summit Cty. Republican Party Executive Commt. v. LaRose, Slip Opinion No. 2023-Ohio-
1165.] 
 
 
 
 
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. 2023-OHIO-1165 
THE STATE EX REL. SUMMIT COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY EXECUTIVE 
COMMITTEE v. LAROSE, SECY. OF STATE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Summit Cty. Republican Party Executive Commt. 
v. LaRose, Slip Opinion No. 2023-Ohio-1165.] 
Attorney fees—Relator failed to show that secretary of state acted in bad faith in 
rejecting its recommendation to make reappointment to county board of 
elections—Relator’s motion for attorney fees denied. 
(No. 2021-0327—Submitted February 7, 2023—Decided April 11, 2023.) 
IN MANDAMUS. 
__________________ 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} In 2021, we granted a writ of mandamus compelling respondent, 
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, to reappoint Bryan C. Williams to the Summit 
County Board of Elections.  State ex rel. Summit Cty. Republican Party Executive 
Commt. v. LaRose, 165 Ohio St.3d 185, 2021-Ohio-1464, 177 N.E.3d 218.  More 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
 
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than a year after we granted the writ, relator, the Summit County Republican Party 
Executive Committee, filed a motion for an award of more than $69,000 in attorney 
fees that it allegedly incurred in this case.  We deny the motion. 
{¶ 2} Attorney fees may be awarded in a mandamus case when the party 
against whom the fees would be taxed acted in bad faith.  See State ex rel. Kabatek 
v. Stackhouse, 6 Ohio St.3d 55, 451 N.E.2d 248 (1983).  To recover attorney fees 
based on bad faith, a party “must show more than negligence or bad judgment” on 
the part of the opposing party.  State ex rel. Grumbles v. Delaware Cty. Bd. of 
Elections, 165 Ohio St.3d 552, 2021-Ohio-3132, 180 N.E.3d 1099, ¶ 20.  “Bad 
faith” connotes a dishonest purpose, moral obliquity, conscious wrongdoing, or 
some ulterior motive or ill will.  State ex rel. McDougald v. Greene, 161 Ohio St.3d 
130, 2020-Ohio-3686, 161 N.E.3d 575, ¶ 26. 
{¶ 3} The committee suggests that our decision granting a writ of 
mandamus establishes that Secretary LaRose acted in bad faith in rejecting the 
committee’s recommendation to reappoint Williams.  But in granting the writ, we 
held only that Secretary LaRose abused his discretion in rejecting the committee’s 
recommendation.  See Summit Cty. Republican Party Executive Commt. at ¶ 9, 28, 
37, 46, 56, 60, 67, 70.  Our prior holding does not, in itself, support the committee’s 
request for an award of attorney fees. 
{¶ 4} The committee’s remaining arguments are unpersuasive.  The 
committee points to the fact that Secretary LaRose included individualized 
allegations in his explanations for rejecting other recommended appointees and that 
only with respect to Williams did Secretary LaRose profess a desire for a “cultural 
change” without identifying specific wrongdoing.  And the committee asserts that 
Secretary LaRose acted with “[p]olitical [h]ostility” because he “perceive[d] 
Williams as a political opponent.”  The evidence before us does not prove that 
Secretary LaRose rejected Williams’s appointment out of personal animus or that 
January Term, 2023 
 
 
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Secretary LaRose’s allegedly insufficient explanation for rejecting the committee’s 
recommendation reflects bad faith. 
{¶ 5} The committee also asserts that Secretary LaRose’s decision “caused 
severe and long-lasting consequences” to the committee.  But the alleged severity 
of any consequences does not support the argument that Secretary LaRose acted in 
bad faith.  Moreover, to the extent that Secretary LaRose’s rejection of the 
committee’s recommendation caused reputational harm, that harm was suffered by 
Williams, not by the committee. 
{¶ 6} Because the committee has not shown that Secretary LaRose acted in 
bad faith in rejecting its recommendation to reappoint Williams, we deny its motion 
for attorney fees. 
Motion denied. 
KENNEDY, C.J., and FISCHER, DEWINE, DONNELLY, STEWART, BRUNNER, 
and DETERS, JJ., concur. 
_________________ 
Roetzel & Andress, L.P.A., Stephen W. Funk, and Emily K. Anglewicz; 
and Cassone Law Office, L.L.C., and Joshua J. Brown, for relator. 
Dave Yost, Attorney General, and Julie M. Pfeiffer, Michael A. Walton, 
and Caitlyn N. Johnson, Assistant Attorneys General; Dickinson Wright, P.L.L.C., 
David A. Lockshaw Jr., and Terrence O’Donnell, for respondent. 
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