State ex rel. Yost v. Google, L.L.C.

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 8, 2026
Docket25 CAE 08 0070
StatusPublished

This text of State ex rel. Yost v. Google, L.L.C. (State ex rel. Yost v. Google, L.L.C.) 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. Yost v. Google, L.L.C., (Ohio Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

[Cite as State ex rel. Yost v. Google, L.L.C., 2026-Ohio-2148.]

IN THE OHIO COURT OF APPEALS FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO

STATE OF OHIO EX REL. YOST Case No. 25 CAE 08 0070

Plaintiff - Appellant Opinion And Judgment Entry

-vs- Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 21 CV H 06 0274 GOOGLE, LLC Judgment: Affirmed Defendant - Appellee Date of Judgment Entry: June 8, 2026

BEFORE: Andrew J. King; Craig R. Baldwin; Robert G. Montgomery, Judges

APPEARANCES: JENNIFER L. PRATT, CHAD M. KOHLER, DAVID OPPENHEIMER, for Plaintiff-Appellant; MICHAEL R. GLADMAN, JUSTIN E. HERDMAN, MOLLY M. DENGLER, JOHN E. SCHMIDTLEIN, KENNETH C. SMURZYNSKI, GLORIA K. MAIER, for Defendant-Appellee.

King, P.J.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-Appellant, Attorney General Dave Yost, appeals the August 15,

2025 opinion and order of the Delaware County Common Pleas Court denying its motion

for summary judgment and granting the motion for summary judgment filed by

Defendant-Appellee, Google, Inc. This appeal asks whether Google's operation of its

internet search engine constitutes a common carrier under Ohio common law. The trial

court correctly concluded that it does not. We affirm the trial court.

I. Procedural History

{¶ 2} On June 8, 2021, the State filed a complaint against Google out of a concern

that Google prioritized the information it provided that best boosted its bottom line instead of providing the most useful and relevant information to the public. Count One

sought a declaration that Google was a public utility/common carrier under Ohio

common law. Count Two sought relief.

{¶ 3} On May 24, 2022, the public utility claim in Count One was dismissed under

Civ.R. 12(B); the counts were then bifurcated. The first phase addressed whether Google

satisfied the elements to be declared a common carrier; if so, the second phase would

address any obligations to be imposed upon Google as a common carrier.

{¶ 4} Following discovery, each party filed motions for summary judgment on the

common carrier claim in Count One. By opinion and order filed August 15, 2025, the trial

court granted Google's motion for summary judgment and denied the State's motion for

summary judgment. The trial court based its decision upon its findings on two elements

of common carriage: the requirement that the carrier transport property and the

requirement that the carrier hold itself out as providing its services "indifferently." In a

lengthy opinion, the trial court found Google did not transport people nor did it transport

product for others; Google does not transport information, the internet service provider

("ISP") does, i.e., cable and mobile companies. Further, the trial court found Google does

not send search information indifferently as it differentiates the information it sends out

based on several factors.

{¶ 5} The State filed an appeal with the following assignments of error:

I

{¶ 6} "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING GOOGLE'S MOTION FOR

SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING THE STATE'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY

JUDGMENT ON THE GROUNDS THAT GOOGLE SEARCH DOES NOT TRANSPORT

PROPERTY." II

{¶ 7} "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING GOOGLE'S MOTION FOR

SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING THE STATE'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY

JUDGMENT ON THE GROUNDS THAT GOOGLE DOES NOT HOLD ITSELF OUT AS

INDIFFERENTLY PROVIDING INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC."

II. Standard of Review

{¶ 8} Summary judgment motions are to be resolved in light of the dictates of

Civ.R. 56. Regarding summary judgment, the Supreme Court stated the following in State

ex rel. Zimmerman v. Tompkins, 75 Ohio St.3d 447, 448 (1996):

Civ.R. 56(C) provides that before summary judgment may be

granted, it must be determined that (1) no genuine issue as to any material

fact remains to be litigated, (2) the moving party is entitled to judgment as

a matter of law, and (3) it appears from the evidence that reasonable minds

can come to but one conclusion, and viewing such evidence most strongly

in favor of the nonmoving party, that conclusion is adverse to the party

against whom the motion for summary judgment is made. State ex. rel.

Parsons v. Fleming (1994), 68 Ohio St.3d 509, 511, 628 N.E.2d 1377, 1379,

citing Temple v. Wean United, Inc. (1977), 50 Ohio St.2d 317, 327, 4 O.O.3d

466, 472, 364 N.E.2d 267, 274.

{¶ 9} In Leech v. Schumaker, 2015-Ohio-4444, ¶ 13 (5th Dist.), this court

explained the following: It is well established the party seeking summary judgment bears the

burden of demonstrating that no issues of material fact exist for trial.

Celotex Corp. v. Catrett (1986), 477 U.S. 317, 330, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91

L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The standard for granting summary judgment is

delineated in Dresher v. Burt (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 280 at 293: " * * * a

party seeking summary judgment, on the ground that the nonmoving party

cannot prove its case, bears the initial burden of informing the trial court of

the basis for the motion, and identifying those portions of the record that

demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact on the essential

element(s) of the nonmoving party's claims. The moving party cannot

discharge its initial burden under Civ.R. 56 simply by making a conclusory

assertion the nonmoving party has no evidence to prove its case. Rather, the

moving party must be able to specifically point to some evidence of the type

listed in Civ.R. 56(C) which affirmatively demonstrates the nonmoving

party has no evidence to support the nonmoving party's claims. If the

moving party fails to satisfy its initial burden, the motion for summary

judgment must be denied. However, if the moving party has satisfied its

initial burden, the nonmoving party then has a reciprocal burden outlined

in Civ.R. 56(E) to set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for

trial and, if the nonmovant does not so respond, summary judgment, if

appropriate, shall be entered against the nonmoving party." The record on

summary judgment must be viewed in the light most favorable to the

opposing party. Williams v. First United Church of Christ (1974), 37 Ohio

St.2d 150. {¶ 10} As an appellate court reviewing summary judgment motions, we stand in

place of the trial court and review the issues de novo, under the same standards and

evidence as the trial court. Grafton v. Ohio Edison Co., 77 Ohio St.3d 102, 105 (1996).

III. Material Undisputed Facts

{¶ 11} Google Search works as follows: users submit queries; Google's systems

crawl only a small fraction of the web's estimated 100+ trillion pages, build proprietary

indices, and, for each individual query, select, rank, filter, and format results into a unique

Search Results Page ("SRP"). The SRP is Google's own curated product, not a passive

transmission of third-party content. Initial transmission and final delivery from and to

the user occurs over networks owned and operated by ISPs. Google's role is to receive the

query and to respond to it as it sees fit.

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Mozilla Corporation v. FCC
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Williams v. First United Church of Christ
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Temple v. Wean United, Inc.
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State ex rel. Parsons v. Fleming
628 N.E.2d 1377 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1994)
Dresher v. Burt
662 N.E.2d 264 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1996)
State ex rel. Zimmerman v. Tompkins
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Jian Zhang v. Baidu.Com Inc.
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State v. Striblin
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Moody v. NetChoice, LLC
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Grafton v. Ohio Edison Co.
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2025 Ohio 4613 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2025)

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