By Dan Trevas | Court News Ohio
Mail and email distribution lists for a township newsletter are public records, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled recently.
A divided Supreme Court found Union Township in Clermont County was required to turn over the distribution lists for the township newsletter, rejecting the township’s argument that the lists were exempt from the Ohio Public Records Act.
Writing for the Court majority, Justice Michael P. Donnelly explained records that document the functions and procedures of a public office are public, and the distribution lists meet the definition because they reveal how and to whom the township’s newsletter is regularly distributed.
The records were requested in 2022 by Christopher Hicks. The ruling reversed decisions by the Ohio Court of Claims and the Twelfth District Court of Appeals, which found the newsletter, but not the distribution lists, were public records.
Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices Jennifer Brunner and Joseph T. Deters joined Justice Donnelly’s opinion.
Justice R. Patrick DeWine concurred but wrote a separate opinion to caution that the decision is limited. He wrote the Court did not address the question of whether a mailing list maintained by an outside vendor, like the one in this case, necessarily satisfies the requirement that a record be “kept” by a public office. Because the parties in the case did not raise the issue, the opinion should not be read as deciding that point.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Patrick F. Fischer wrote the lists have no connection to the functions of the township and are not public records. Justice Melody Stewart joined Justice Fischer’s dissent.
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