State ex rel. Bell v. Brooks

Summary

The Supreme Court of Ohio held that County Risk Sharing Authority, Inc. (CORSA), a private joint self-insurance pool, was not the functional equivalent of a public office subject to Ohio's Public Records Act. Accordingly, the court affirmed denial of the mandamus claim concerning CORSA board-meeting minutes. The court reversed and remanded claims concerning CORSA's financial and compensation records because Ohio Revised Code 149.431 may require disclosure of such records independently of CORSA's status under Revised Code 149.43.

Holdings

1. CORSA was not the functional equivalent of a public office for purposes of the Public Records Act because Bell did not establish by clear and convincing evidence that the functional-equivalency factors favored public-office status.
2. The determination that CORSA was not the functional equivalent of a public office did not dispose of Bell's claims for financial and compensation records because R.C. 149.431 independently requires specified financial and compensation records of qualifying nonprofit corporations with government-service contracts to be treated as public records.
3. Bell did not waive his claims under R.C. 149.431 merely because the magistrate limited the proceedings to the functional-equivalency issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether CORSA was the functional equivalent of a public office subject to Ohio's Public Records Act, R.C. 149.43.
2. Whether the determination that CORSA was not the functional equivalent of a public office disposed of Bell's claims for financial and compensation records under R.C. 149.431.
3. Whether Bell waived his claims for financial and compensation records by proceeding below on the functional-equivalency issue.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded