Justia Ohio Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Court denied the writ of mandamus sought by Relator to compel Kent State University to comply with her records request under Ohio Rev. Code 149.43, holding that Relator was not entitled to additional records beyond those that she had already received pursuant to her request.After Kent State responded to Relator’s records request, Relator filed this mandamus complaint. Following the complaint, Kent State provided additional records. The Supreme Court denied relief, holding that Kent State did not fail to uphold its duties under section 149.43. The Court granted Relator an award of statutory damages in the amount of $1,000 and granted Relator’s request for reasonable attorney fees but denied her request for court costs. View "State ex rel. Kesterson v. Kent State University" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court denied the writ of mandamus sought by Relator seeking to compel Kent State University with certain records regarding student-athletes under the Public Records Act, Ohio Rev. Code 149.43, holding that Relator failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that Kent State failed fully to respond to her records request.Kent State provided several hundred pages of records in response to Relator’s records request. Relator later filed her mandamus complaint alleging that Kent State failed fully to respond to her request. The Supreme Court denied relief, holding (1) despite Kent State’s failure fro comply with Relator’s request within a reasonable period of time, Kent State’s eventual production of all the requested records rendered Relator’s mandamus claim moot; and (2) Relator was entitled to $1,000 in statutory damages and reasonable attorney fees but was not entitled to an award of court costs. View "State ex rel. Kesterson v. Kent State University" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court held that Ohio Rev. Code 3314.08 authorizes the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to base funding of an Internet-based community school - or e-school - on the duration of student participation.The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), Ohio’s largest e-school, sought a permanent injunction and declaratory judgment seeking to bar ODE from requesting or considering data showing the duration of a student’s participation during its review of the e-school. The trial court denied ECOT’s claims, and the court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that section 3314.08 is unambiguous and does not bar the ODE from calculating funding based on a student’s participation. View "Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow v. Ohio Department of Education" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals dismissing the petition of Appellant for a writ of mandamus against the Ohio Adult Parole Authority (APA). In his petition, Appellant argued that he had received multiple punishments for the same parole violation in violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause. The court of appeals dismissed the action, ruling that Appellant ha not received multiple punishments and that Appellant had failed to demonstrate any constitutional injury. The Supreme Court denied Appellant’s motion for leave to supplement his reply brief and affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals, holding (1) double jeopardy protections were not violated by the sanctions imposed for Appellant’s parole violation; and (2) the APA did not violate Appellant’s due process rights by holding a parole hearing after his parole officer had imposed sanctions against him. View "Clark v. Adult Parole Authority" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court denied the writ of mandamus sought by Kurt Singer to, among other things, compel Fairland Local School District Board of Education (Fairland) to recognize him as a “regular nonteaching school employee” under Ohio Rev. Code 3319.081 with continuing-contract status.Singer worked for Fairland as a substitute custodian without signing a written employment contract with Fairland. Singer alleged that Fairland wrongly designated him as a “substitute,” and consequently, he had been paid less than a full-time custodian, lost health benefits and some pension benefits, and had been deprived of certain paid leave. Singer requested a writ of mandamus directing Fairland to recognize him as a regular nonteaching employe with a continuing contract and ordering Fairland to make him whole by awarding him back wages and benefits and crediting him with paid leave and other accrued rights. The Supreme Court denied the writ, holding that Singer was not entitled to continuing status because he failed to establish that he was a “regular nonteaching employee” under section 3319.081. View "State ex rel. Singer v. Fairland Local School District Board of Education" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals denying Appellant’s petition for writs of mandamus and prohibition. Appellant was convicted of aggravated robbery, felonious assault, and having a weapon while under disability. Appellee, Judge Robert McClelland, granted Appellant’s motion for judicial release and placed him on community control. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the trial court had failed to make the findings required by Ohio Rev. Code 2929.20(J) before granting judicial release. Thereafter, the trial court revoked Appellant’s judicial release and ordered him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence. The trial court subsequently filed an entry stating that the court of appeals’ order had been rendered moot. Appellant sought writs of mandamus and prohibition in the court of appeals to compel Judge McClellan to comply with the prior appellate judgment reversing the grant of judicial release. The court of appeals denied relief. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Appellant failed to prove that Judge McClellan exercised unauthorized judicial power and that denying the writ would result in injury for which no other adequate remedy at law exists. View "State ex rel. Peterson v. McClelland" on Justia Law

In July 2015, the Delaware Joint Vocational School District Board of Education passed a resolution to submit a renewal levy to voters at the general election. On November 20, 2015, the Delaware County Board of Elections purported to certify the election result. The county auditor then delivered the abstract of tax rates to the tax commissioner to apply the reduction factors and calculate the tax rate for the school district. When the county auditor discovered that the Board of Elections had not certified the results of the levy using Form 5-U, however, the tax commissioner excluded the levy on the list of tax rates certified for collection to the county auditors in counties with territory in the school district, and the levy was not included on the property tax bills sent to property owners for the first half of tax year 2016. The school board brought this action in mandamus to compel the tax commissioner to apply the reduction factors and calculate the tax rates for the levy. The Supreme Court denied relief, holding that because no proper certification of the multicounty election was presented to the tax commissioner demonstrating that the tax was authorized to be levied, the commissioner did not have a clear legal duty to apply reduction factors and calculate tax rates for this levy. View "State ex rel. Delaware Joint Vocational School District Board of Education v. Testa" on Justia Law

School Choice Ohio, Inc., a private nonprofit corporation that informs parents about educational opportunities for their children, sent a public-records request to Springfield City School District seeking information regarding students enrolled in the school in the district during the 2013-2014 academic year. Springfield denied the request based on a student-information policy it had adopted that required parental written consent before Springfield would release certain student information. School Choice filed a complaint seeking a writ of mandamus compelling Springfield to produce the requested information and to amend Springfield’s student-information policy. The Supreme Court granted in part and denied in part the complaint and ordered Springfield to provide the requested records that pertain to students whose parents had signed Springfield’s consent form and that fell within the categories of personally identifiable information identified in Springfield’s consent form, holding (1) School Choice had a clear legal right to access the personally identifiable information of Springfield’s students whose parents had consented to the release of the information; and (2) School Choice failed to establish a clear legal right to compel Springfield to amend its student-information policy. View "State ex rel. Sch. Choice Ohio, Inc. v. Cincinnati Pub. Sch. Dist." on Justia Law

Several school districts filed complaints seeking reimbursement for retroactive reductions in school foundation funding. The State Board of Education of Ohio (the department) moved for judgment on the pleadings, arguing that it was insulated from liability. The trial court held that the General Assembly did not have the constitutional authority to adjust local school funding retrospectively. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the General Assembly had constitutional authority to retroactively reduce the amount of state funding allocated to local school districts and to immunize the department against the school districts’ legal claims. Remanded. View "Toledo City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. State Bd. of Educ." on Justia Law

David Quolke, the president of the Cleveland Teacher’s Union, requested from the Strongsville City School District Board of Education the names and identification numbers of all teachers and replacement teachers employed by the Board during a teachers’ strike. The Board claimed that many of the records were not subject to disclosure, asserting that the names of the replacement teachers were not considered public record because of the threat of harm to those teachers. Quolke sued in mandamus in the court of appeals for the records. The court of appeals found for Quolke and ordered the Board to produce the names. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that, while there may have been a genuine threat to the replacement teachers’ well-being during the strike, the Board presented little evidence that there was any remaining threat to the teachers now that the strike was over. View "State ex rel. Quolke v. Strongsville City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ." on Justia Law