Ohio high court sides with newspaper in open-records case
By The Associated Press
12.27.02
CINCINNATI — The draft of Cincinnati's settlement with the Justice Department over police use of force should not have been kept secret, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled.
The 5-1 decision on Dec. 23 was a victory for The Cincinnati Enquirer, which had sued the city in March to enforce the Ohio Public Records Act. The newspaper sought a copy of the draft agreement; the final settlement was released in April.
John C. Greiner, the Enquirer's lawyer, said the decision reaffirms the principle that settlement agreements — even drafts — are public records.
"To see drafts is the only way to see how they arrived at a decision," Greiner said. "That's the only way to see whether the city got the best deal it could have."
The city claimed the documents were protected by attorney-client privilege and the confidentiality granted to records used in law enforcement investigations.
The city also said the records were sealed under an order by U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott, who had jurisdiction over a separate but related civil rights lawsuit.
The Ohio Supreme Court noted that the city released copies of the draft agreement to parties in that lawsuit, and should have released it to the public as well.
"The proposed settlement of the (Justice Department's) investigation into the practices and policies of the Cincinnati Police Department was a matter of great public interest. The Enquirer's access to the requested record would enable it to provide complete and accurate news to the public," the majority said.
Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton was the lone dissenter. She didn't disagree that the document was a public record, but said the issue was moot since there was a final agreement. The decision overturned a ruling by the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals and ordered the city to pay the Enquirer's legal fees.
The settlement was the culmination of a yearlong investigation sought by the city following riots that stemmed from the shooting of an unarmed black man. The man had fled from white officers who tried to arrest him on several misdemeanor warrants.