127 Ohio St. 3d 309 | Ohio | 2010
Lead Opinion
{¶ 1} We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals denying an award of statutory damages to appellant, inmate Lambert Dehler, in a public-records mandamus case for the following reasons.
{¶3} Moreover, the prison officials established that permitting Dehler to inspect the requested records might have unreasonably interfered with the discharge of their duties. See State ex rel. Dehler v. Spatny, 127 Ohio St.3d 312, 2010-Ohio-5711, — N.E.2d —, ¶ 5, citing State ex rel. Natl. Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Cleveland (1988), 38 Ohio St.3d 79, 81, 526 N.E.2d 786, and Briscoe v. Ohio Dept. of Rehab. & Corr., Franklin App. No. 02AP-1109, 2003-Ohio-3533, 2003 WL 21512808, ¶ 16 (“With respect to penal institutions, prison administrators must be accorded deference in adopting * * * policies and practices to preserve internal order and to maintain institutional security”).
{¶ 4} Finally, notwithstanding Dehler’s contentions to the contrary, R.C. 149.43(C)(1) does not permit stacking of statutory damages based on what is essentially the same records request. No windfall is conferred by the statute. See R.C. 149.43(C)(1) (an “award of statutory damages should not be construed as a penalty, but as compensation for injury arising from lost use of the requested information”).
{¶ 5} Therefore, Dehler failed to establish his entitlement to an award of statutory damages in his public-records mandamus case, and we affirm the judgment denying the award.
Judgment affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
{¶ 6} I respectfully dissent from the judgment affirming the denial of an award of statutory damages to appellant, inmate Lambert Dehler, in his public-records mandamus case.
{¶ 8} For the following reasons, the court of appeals erred in refusing to award Dehler $1,000 in statutory damages in accordance with R.C. 149.43(C)(1).
{¶ 9} First, the court of appeals granted a writ of mandamus to compel appellees to immediately satisfy Dehler’s request for prison library records. As the court of appeals itself determined, Dehler “submitted a proper written request for public records,” appellees “failed to perform their legal duties under R.C. 149.43(B) to provide access to those records,” and appellees’ “improper refusal to satisfy the ‘library’ request continued longer than a period of ten days.” State ex rel. Dehler v. Kelly, Trumbull App. No. 2009-T-0084, 2010-Ohio-3053, 2010 WL 2636549, ¶ 43. Appellees did not appeal from the court of appeals’ judgment granting the writ. Thus, we cannot consider their claims insofar as they suggest that Dehler was not entitled to the requested records because, inter alia, Dehler did not proffer prepayment for copies. See State ex rel. Worrell v. Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, 112 Ohio St.3d 116, 2006-Ohio-6513, 858 N.E.2d 380, ¶ 9, fn. 1 (“Appellees did not appeal the court’s issuance of a limited writ, so we do not consider the propriety of the court of appeals’ holding that the board had a duty to issue a decision stating the basis for its denial”). Instead, in the absence of a timely cross-appeal by appellees from the granting of the writ, we must necessarily presume the propriety of the issuance of the writ in our determination of whether the court of appeals erred in denying Dehler’s request for statutory damages.
{¶ 10} Second, “R.C. 149.43(C)(1) provides for statutory damages of $100 for each business day during which the public office failed to comply with the public-records law, up to a maximum of $1,000,” and because more than ten business days have elapsed from the date Dehler filed this mandamus action and he still has not been provided access to the requested records, the $1,000 maximum award is applicable. State ex rel. Doe v. Smith, 123 Ohio St.3d 44, 2009-Ohio-4149, 914 N.E.2d 159, ¶ 45.
{¶ 11} Third, nothing in R.C. 149.43(C)(1) authorizes a court to deny or reduce an award of statutory damages based on the court of appeals’ stated basis of a lack of merit for a different public-records request that is the subject of a separate public-records mandamus case instituted by the same relator. Rather, the focus for denying or reducing an otherwise mandatory award of statutory damages to a prevailing party in a public-records mandamus case is on the
{¶ 12} Fourth, the court of appeals also erred in relying on the supposed overbreadth of Dehler’s records request in Spatny because, as I note in my separate opinion in Dehler’s appeal from the court of appeals’ judgment in that case, his request for prison quartermaster records at TCI was not overbroad. State ex rel. Dehler v. Spatny, 127 Ohio St.3d 312, 2010-Ohio-5711, — N.E.2d — (Brown, C.J., dissenting).
{¶ 13} Finally, this interpretation of R.C. 149.43(C)(1) is supported by its plain language and our duties to “construe the Public Records Act liberally in favor of broad access and resolve any doubt in favor of disclosure of public records.” State ex rel. Rocker v. Guernsey Cty. Sheriffs Office, 126 Ohio St.3d 224, 2010-Ohio-3288, 932 N.E.2d 327, ¶ 6.
{¶ 14} Therefore, because the court of appeals erred in not awarding Dehler $1,000 in statutory damages, reversal of the judgment is required. Thus, I dissent from the judgment affirming the court of appeals’ denial of statutory damages.