State ex rel. DiFranco v. City of S. Euclid
Annotate this CaseAppellant made a public-records request to the City of South Euclid in care of the clerk of the city council. The clerk stated that he would forward the requested information, but because of an internal breakdown in communication, the City did not fulfill the request for nearly six months. Appellant filed a claim for a writ of mandamus, after which the oversight was discovered. The City subsequently provided the records responsive to Appellant’s request. Appellant filed a motion for partial summary judgment, contending that although the mandamus action was mooted by the production of records, she was entitled to a mandatory award of attorney fees. The court of appeals denied the motion for fees, concluding that Appellant had “failed to establish any viable public benefit.” The Supreme Court affirmed but on different grounds, holding (1) in considering the question of mandatory attorney fees, the court of appeals should have followed Ohio Rev. Code 149.43(C)(2)(b) rather than looking to public benefit; and (2) because the court did not have to render a judgment ordering the City to produce the records within a reasonable time, Appellant was ineligible for mandatory attorney fees under section 149.43(C)(2)(b).
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