State Ex Rel. National Broadcasting Co. v. City of Cleveland

611 N.E.2d 838, 82 Ohio App. 3d 202, 1992 Ohio App. LEXIS 1923
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 9, 1992
DocketNo. 52337.
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 611 N.E.2d 838 (State Ex Rel. National Broadcasting Co. v. City of Cleveland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. National Broadcasting Co. v. City of Cleveland, 611 N.E.2d 838, 82 Ohio App. 3d 202, 1992 Ohio App. LEXIS 1923 (Ohio Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

Nahra, Presiding Judge.

Relator, National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (“NBC”), pursuant to R.C. 149.43 is seeking disclosure of certain records kept by respondents, the city of Cleveland and several of its officials (collectively the “city”), which pertain to twelve investigations of the use of deadly force by police officers against civilians. This mandamus action is here on remand for application of the relevant statutory exceptions to the records in issue. State ex rel. Natl. Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Cleveland (Mar. 13, 1987), Cuyahoga App. No. 52337, unreported, reversed (1988), 38 Ohio St. 3d 79, 526 N.E.2d 786, on remand (Oct. 3, 1989), Cuyahoga App. No. 52337, unreported, 1989 WL 121054, affirmed in part and reversed in part (1991), 57 Ohio St. 3d 77, 566 N.E.2d 146. For the following reasons, after a careful review of each record submitted, we grant a writ of mandamus and order documents released in full or in part as indicated in the Appendix and deny the writ for the remaining documents. We have included in the Appendix a list of documents the city agreed to release, and those records should be released at once if the city has not yet done so.

I

Waiver of Exceptions

NBC asserts that the city has waived all exceptions not raised initially in this court. The city contends it raised exceptions in addition to the specific investigatory work product and trial preparation exemptions when it submitted its document list specifying the reasons for withholding records and, after reviewing the document list, we agree. However, even if the city had or had not raised a specific exception, if federal or other state law prohibits public *206 disclosure of material and that material is evident to the court, such as an individual’s Social Security number, we believe the material should be withheld. See, e.g., State ex rel. Martinelli v. Cleveland (Apr. 22, 1991), Cuyahoga App. No. 56461, unreported, at 23, 1991 WL 64349; State ex rel. Jester v. Cleveland (Jan. 17, 1991), Cuyahoga App. No. 56438, unreported, at 18, 1991 WL 3545. In addition, due to the evolution of public records law during the course of this litigation, we believe it would be unjust to apply waiver principles, especially since this case is itself a principal developer of public records law in this state. Therefore, we will review all claimed exceptions.

II

Exceptions

When material is redacted from a document or when a document is withheld from the public, the governmental body has the burden of proving that the records or material redacted are excepted from disclosure. State ex rel. Natl. Broadcasting Co. v. Cleveland (1988), 38 Ohio St. 3d 79, 526 N.E.2d 786, paragraph two of the syllabus. When reviewing records, all doubt is to be resolved in favor of disclosure. Id. at 83, 526 N.E.2d at 789. The city has claimed various exemptions and we will discuss the application of each exemption separately. Where appropriate, material to be redacted on the documents appears within red brackets to preserve it for appellate review, since the city supplied only one unredacted copy of its records.

A

Other State or Federal Law

1. Parole Hearing Transcript

Records pertaining to parole proceedings are not public records. R.C. 149.43(A)(1); State ex rel. Gaines v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth. (1983), 5 Ohio St. 3d 104, 5 OBR 241, 449 N.E.2d 762. Record IX-73 is a transcript of a probable cause hearing on a parole violation. Since the transcript is a record pertaining to a parole proceeding, it is exempt. In addition, Records IX-67 (second sentence) and 68 (paragraphs 1 through 3, page 2) are to be redacted where they contain references to this hearing.

2. Federal and State Data Networks

Section 3789g, Title 42, U.S. Code prohibits disclosure of Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) “rap sheets,” and R.C. 109.57 prohibits disclosure of Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (“BCI”) “rap sheets.” State ex rel. Lippitt v. Kovacic (1991), 70 Ohio App.3d 525, 591 N.E.2d 422. *207 Consequently, FBI and BCI (“OSB”) identification numbers which appear on other documents must be redacted. Id. Records I — 92; IV — 2; V — 9-10; VI — 68, 80-81; VIII — 47-48; IX — 5-6; XI — 7, 22, 30-32; and XII — 25 are rap sheets and are exempt from disclosure. Records VII — 10 (page 2), 11 (page 2), 12 (page 2), 14; IX — 47; XI — 21; and XII — 24 contain FBI and/or OSB numbers and those numbers are marked for redaction.

3. Attorney — Client Privilege

Documents containing communications between attorneys and government clients are protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege. See State ex rel. Allright Parking of Cleveland, Inc. v. Cleveland (Mar. 1, 1991), Cuyahoga App. No. 57881, unreported, 1991 WL 30252; Woodman v. Lakewood (1988), 44 Ohio App.3d 118, 541 N.E.2d 1084, appeal dismissed (1988), 39 Ohio St. 3d 706, 534 N.E.2d 89. The documents for which the city claims this privilege contain communications about legal advice given or contain communications between attorneys in the city’s law department and members of the various city entities the law department represents regarding the legal business of the governmental clients. Records VI — 86-87, 90-91, and XI — 1-2 are therefore exempt from disclosure under R.C. 149.43(A)(1).

4. Social Security Numbers

An individual’s Social Security number is exempt from disclosure. State ex rel. Van Johnson v. Cleveland (Sept. 30, 1991), Cuyahoga App. No. 60964, unreported, 1991 WL 200273. The Social Security numbers contained in Records VII — 19 (pages 1 through 2 and 4); VIII — 6 (pages 1-3), 42, 45 (page 4), 50; IX — 9, 15,16 (page 2), 17, 30, 34, 36-37, 40, 43-44, 46, 52 (pages 1 through 2, 6 and 15), 53 (pages 1 through 2), 54 (page 2), 56, 59 (page 1), 70-71, 78 (page 1), 79 (pages 3, 5); XI — 24 (page 2); XII — 48 (page 1) and 59 (page 8) are marked for redaction.

B

Confidential Law Enforcement Investigatory Records

Investigatory records may be exempt from disclosure as confidential law enforcement investigatory records if release of a record would create a high probability of disclosure of any of the following:

“(a) The identity of a suspect who has not been charged with the offense to which the record pertains, or of an information source or witness to whom confidentiality has been reasonably promised;

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Bluebook (online)
611 N.E.2d 838, 82 Ohio App. 3d 202, 1992 Ohio App. LEXIS 1923, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-national-broadcasting-co-v-city-of-cleveland-ohioctapp-1992.