Y-City News v. Tri-Valley Local Sch. Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 17 May 2022
• Docket Number: 2022-00113PQ
• Citation: 2022 Ohio 2665
• Parties: Y-CITY NEWS Requester v. TRI-VALLEY LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION Respondent
• Court: Ohio Court of Claims

2022-Ohio-2665

Y-CITY NEWS Requester v. TRI-VALLEY LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION Respondent

No. 2022-00113PQ

Court of Claims of Ohio

May 17, 2022

Sent to S.C. Reporter 8/4/22

RECOMMENDATION TO DISMISS WITHOUT PREJUDICE

JEFF CLARK, SPECIAL MASTER

{¶1} The Ohio Public Records Act requires copies of public records to be made available to any person upon request. R.C 149.43(B)(1). This action is filed under R.C. 2743.75, which is intended "to provide for an expeditious and economical procedure" to enforce the Act in the Court of Claims. R.C. 2743.75(A). This procedure has been utilized by hundreds of individuals, including many who make requests and file complaints in their own names rather than on behalf of any corporate entity.

{¶2} On November 22, 2021, requester Y-City News made public records requests to Tri-Valley Local School District Superintendent Mark Neal for certain text and email records from July or August, 2019. (Complaint at 3.) The request was expressly made by a corporate entity. (Complaint at 3 - "our organization is requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of the following public records.") Y-City News summarizes the requests as

seeking communications between Superintendent Mark Neal and a current common pleas court judge as well as the former elected county prosecutor, who retired from office and now serves as an assistant prosecutor for the same office. * * *

This particular records request seeks the emails and corresponding attachments from Superintendent Neal to the aforementioned judge and prosecutor as well as a series of text messages of school resource officer Brad Gearhart.

(Id. at 2.) Respondent Tri-Valley Local School District Board of Education (Tri-Valley SD) responded to each request (Id. at 5-12), but on February 15, 2022 Y-City News filed a complaint under R.C. 2743.75, naming the media corporation as the party-requester, alleging denial of access to additional public records in violation of R.C 149.43(B)(1). Following unsuccessful mediation, Tri-Valley S.D. filed a motion to dismiss (Response) on April 20, 2022.

{¶3} Tri-Valley S.D. seeks dismissal, inter alia, on the ground that this action was commenced on behalf of a corporation by a person not admitted to the Ohio bar. (Response at 5.) The court directed Y-City News to brief the issue. (April 18, 2022 Order.) In response, Y-City News filed a letter on May 10, 2022 that lacked a caption or proof of service on Tri-Valley SD. The court may not consider any document filed with the court "until proof of service is endorsed thereon or separately filed." Civ.R. 5(B)(4). However, in the interest of justice the Special Master reviewed the letter and finds that it does not address the issue of representation other than to state that Y-City News has no "corporate attorney on staff and that the person who filed the complaint is not an attorney. Y-City News appears to believe that the special statutory court action in the Ohio Court of Claims is informal and not subject to the Ohio Civil Rules of Procedure and Ohio Revised Code.

Complaint Improperly Filed on Behalf of Corporation by Non-Attorney

{¶4} Either an individual or a corporation may make a public records request because "any person" may make the request, R.C. 149.43(B)(1), and both individuals and corporations are included in the definition of a "person." R.C. 1.59(C). However, unlike an individual person, "A corporation cannot maintain litigation in propria persona, or appear in court through an officer of the corporation or an appointed agent not admitted to the practice of law." Union Savings Assn. v. Home Owners Aid, 23 Ohio St.2d 60, 60, 262 N.E.2d 558 (1970). The Y-City News contact person could have made the request in his own name and filed an enforcement action in his own name as the party-requester pro se (without an attorney). Instead, Y-City News brought this action as a corporation, and the complaint was signed by a corporate officer rather than an attorney. (Complaint at 1- 2; Response at 5, Exhs. B and C.)

{¶5} R.C. 4705.01 provides, in pertinent part:

No person shall be permitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law, or to commence, conduct, or defend any action or proceeding in which the person is not a party concerned, either by using or subscribing the person's own name, or the name of another person, unless the person has been admitted to the bar by order of the supreme court in compliance with its prescribed and published rules. * * *

"When a non-attorney files a complaint in a court in violation of R.C. 4705.01, the court should dismiss the complaint without prejudice." Williams v. Global Constr....