State ex rel. Richfield v. Laria
Annotate this CaseThe Village of Richfield petitioned in municipal court to unseal certain criminal records, claiming that the records were improperly sealed under Ohio Rev. Code 2953.52. Judge Kathryn Michael, the presiding judge of the municipal court, denied the motion to unseal the records. Richfield subsequently made a written request to the clerk of courts for the official criminal case records, claiming that because the records had not been properly sealed, they were public under Ohio Rev. Code 149.43. The request was denied. Richfield then filed this action in mandamus, asserting that the records were sealed unlawfully. The Supreme Court denied the writ, holding (1) Richfield improperly requested the court records under section 149.43 rather than Sup. Ct. R. 44 through 47, which control access to court records; and (2) even if Richfield had properly requested the records, Richfield had an adequate remedy at law of the denial of its motion to unseal the records, and therefore, Richfield could not satisfy the requirements of a writ of mandamus.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.