LAMBERT, APPELLEE, v. CLANCY, HAMILTON COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS, APPELLANT.
No. 2008-2183
Supreme Court of Ohio
Submitted September 15, 2009—Decided April 8, 2010
125 Ohio St.3d 231, 2010-Ohio-1483
{¶ 1} In this appeal, we are asked to determine the appropriate
{¶ 3} Lambert was notified in 2004 that suspicious credit activity was taking place in her name. Someone made approximately $20,000 in unauthorized charges using Lambert’s personal information. The person was subsequently identified, arrested, and pleaded guilty to federal felony charges related to the theft of Lambert’s identity. Lambert claims that it is evident that this person used the clerk of courts’ website to get her information because the personal information used to make the unauthorized charges included Lambert’s incorrect driver’s license number as posted on the county’s website.
{¶ 4} From 1999 to 2004, as a matter of policy and practice, the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts’ office published on its website every document filed with the office in its original and unredacted form, except for juvenile records and documents that were filed under seal. This practice continued despite warnings to the clerk of courts that publishing personal and private information on the website provided “fertile ground for identity theft.” Lambert asserts that when she requested that such personal information be removed from the clerk of courts’ website, she was told that such action would require a vast amount of manpower and that the theft of her identity was not necessarily a result of information posted on the clerk of courts’ website. In December 2004, pursuant to the adoption of a new local rule, the clerk of courts’ website ceased offering unrestricted access to documents filed with the clerk of courts.
{¶ 5} Also in December 2004, Lambert filed a complaint alleging various federal and state claims in a federal district court lawsuit against “Greg Hartmann, in his official capacity as Clerk of Courts,” and the “Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners.” The district court dismissed the complaint, concluding that Lambert’s federal claims were not entitled to relief under Section
{¶ 6} After the federal court‘s disposition, Lambert filed a complaint in the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court alleging violation of Ohio‘s privacy act, invasion of privacy, unlawful publication of private facts, and public nuisance. Lambert filed her complaint against “Greg Hartmann, Hamilton County, Ohio Clerk of Courts.” The trial court dismissed Lambert‘s complaint pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B)(6) and (C), without opinion.
{¶ 7} Lambert appealed, and the appellate court reversed. As pertinent to this appeal, the court held that Lambert‘s claims were not barred by the Political Subdivision Tort Liability Act,
{¶ 8}
{¶ 9} The second tier in the immunity analysis focuses on the five exceptions to this immunity, which are listed in
{¶ 10} Immunity is also extended to individual employees of political subdivisions.
{¶ 11} Moreover, if the employee acted in good faith and not manifestly outside the scope of his or her employment or official responsibilities, the political subdivision has a duty to provide a defense for the employee if a civil action or proceeding against the employee for damages is commenced.
{¶ 12} As a starting point in this case, we are confronted with a question regarding the effect of the language used in the complaint Lambert filed in the common pleas court. Lambert asserts in briefs and at oral argument that she sued Hartmann in his capacity as an individual employee of Hamilton County. Hartmann, however, contends that Lambert‘s suit is in actuality directed against the office of the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, an office of the political subdivision of Hamilton County. The determination whether Hartmann was sued individually or in his capacity as the elected officeholder of the political subdivision, i.e., in his official capacity, ultimately determines the appropriate
{¶ 13} It is not apparent to us whether the trial and appellate courts considered the status of the defendant as an officeholder of the political subdivision in the context of their immunity analyses. The trial court simply dismissed the complaint without opinion, apparently presuming that the complaint was against the clerk of courts’ office and applying the political-subdivision-immunity analysis of
{¶ 14} The appellate court, without any discussion, appears to have assumed that the complaint was brought against Hartmann individually, as an employee of the clerk of courts’ office. That court summarily applied an
{¶ 15} Notwithstanding the appellate court‘s conclusion, our review of the complaint leads us to conclude that Lambert asserted her claims against Hartmann in his official capacity as an officeholder of the political subdivision. The complaint filed in the federal court identifies the defendants as Greg Hartmann, in his official capacity as clerk of courts and the Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners. The complaint filed in the state court, however, names “Greg Hartmann, Hamilton County, Ohio Clerk of Courts” as the only defendant. The complaint does not add the words “personally,” “individually,” “an employee of the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts,” or anything similar to denote that he is being sued in his individual capacity as a county employee as opposed to being sued in his official capacity as the clerk of courts.
{¶ 16} Additionally, the allegations in the state-filed complaint pertain to the policies and practices of the clerk of courts’ office and not to actions taken by Hartmann personally. For example, the complaint alleges that despite the known risks, “the Clerk of Court‘s Office recklessly, willfully and purposefully continued its practice of publishing personal information on the internet.” In fact, some of the allegations pertain to policies and practices employed by the clerk of courts’ office prior to the time Hartmann became the clerk of courts. Moreover, the allegations in the complaint filed in the state court mirror those in the complaint filed in the federal court, and the federal complaint was clearly against Hartmann in his official capacity. Thus, although Lambert‘s prayer for relief in the state complaint asks for relief solely from Hartmann and not any public body or office, we conclude that Lambert‘s complaint asserts claims against the office of the clerk of the Hamilton County clerk of courts, an elected position within a political subdivision held by Greg Hartmann at the time the complaint was filed. Thus, the complaint is one that asserts its claims against Greg Hartmann in his official capacity as the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.3
{¶ 18} This conclusion derives from several principles. One principle is that a county is a political subdivision, and the operation of a clerk of courts’ office is a governmental function. See
{¶ 19} A second principle is that many of the governmental functions listed in
{¶ 20} By logical necessity, the immunity granted by statute to a political subdivision is also extended to the political subdivision‘s departments, agencies, and offices, which implement the duties of the political subdivision. Id. at paragraph two of the syllabus. See also Rankin v. Cuyahoga Cty. Dept. of Children & Family Servs., 118 Ohio St.3d 392, 2008-Ohio-2567, 889 N.E.2d 521, ¶ 16. Thus, because a clerk of courts’ office is an instrumentality of the county, through which the county‘s governmental functions are carried out, the clerk of courts’ office, like the county itself, is cloaked with the immunity granted to the political subdivision under
{¶ 21} As a natural extension of these principles, when allegations are made against the elected holder of an office of a political subdivision who is sued in an official capacity, the officeholder is also entitled to the grant of immunity contained in
{¶ 22} For the reasons set forth herein, we hold that when the allegations contained in a complaint are directed against an office of a political subdivision, the officeholder named as a defendant is sued in his or her official capacity, rather than in his or her individual or personal capacity. Moreover, the political-subdivision-immunity analysis set forth in
{¶ 23} We reverse the judgment of the appellate court and remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings to consider the applicable immunity exceptions and defenses under
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
MOYER, C.J.,4 and LUNDBERG STRATTON, O‘CONNOR, O‘DONNELL, and LANZINGER, JJ., concur.
PFEIFER, J., dissents and would dismiss the appeal as having been improvidently accepted.
Law Office of Marc Mezibov, Marc D. Mezibov, and Stacy A. Hinners, for appellee.
Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Pamela J. Sears and Michael G. Florez, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellant.