Public Records Lawsuit Against Lakewood Decided

LAKEWOOD, OH — The Eight District Court of Appeals has brought an end to a years-long lawsuit against the city, accusing officials of not releasing public documents. The court denied requests for additional swaths of information to be released, but also ordered some redacted documents to be revealed.

"After considering the requests, the certifications, the 27,000 pages of records released, the other evidence, the parties briefs, and the relevant law, this court concludes that Lakewood has fulfilled its duties to produce the requested records," the court wrote in its decision. It then ordered a list of specific, previously requested documents to be released or un-redacted.

The court commented on the peculiar nature of public records cases in Ohio, with competing laws compelling the release of records, and protecting the government from burdensome requests. On one hand, government records belong to the public, on the other proving a negative (aka having to prove a record doesn't exist) is a daunting task.

“The city has always taken very seriously its obligation to give the public the records the citizens own and deserve,” said Law Director Kevin Butler in a statement. “We feel very strongly that we fulfilled that obligation in this case.”

The Eighth District has been mulling a decision on the case since February, but the lawsuit was introduced in 2016. The initial lawsuit was focused on Lakewood Hospital and whether or not city officials properly released 320 documents requested by Brian Essi.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. And like Patch on Facebook!)

The city responded by dumping 27,000 pages of records onto the public, though some of Essi's requests were redacted or unreleased, for a variety of reasons. The city cited attorney-client privilege, non-government matters and other clauses to protect certain documents. The Eight District largely upheld those protections.

“The court has ruled,” Mayor Mike Summers said in a statement. “We are grateful for the ruling and appreciate the effort the court put into its opinion.”

The attorney for Essi did not return Patch's request for comment.

Photo from Rick Uldricks, Patch