Ohio Supreme Court declines to stay order that invalidated public records policy

COLUMBUS (CN) — A policy to prevent Ohioans from accessing old eviction records online will not go back into effect as the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts prepares for an appeal to the state high court.

The Ohio Supreme Court decided Wednesday to deny the stay request as part of its daily case announcements, but did not include an opinion or explanation.

The case stems from October 2023, when all 12 judges of the Hamilton County Municipal Court issued an administrative order as part of an effort to force Democratic clerk Pavan Parikh to rescind a 2022 policy that removed eviction records from the court’s online public database if they were more than three years old.

Parikh filed a petition for a writ of prohibition and claimed the policy was a way to prevent individuals from being denied housing or employment based on past evictions.

The judges filed a counterclaim and, in September, the First District Court of Appeals ruled in their favor and invalidated the policy.

“Here, the clerk overreached to exercise a judicial function en masse* * specifically conferred to the judges, without having the power or right to do so, without any such party seeking relief, and without any evidence being brought forth to justify such restriction,” Twelfth District Judge Robin Piper, sitting by assignment on the First District, said in the opinion.

Piper reminded Parikh in the ruling he is required to follow orders from the judges and cannot use the local rules of superintendence to defend the policy.

She emphasized judges have the ultimate authority to determine which records are accessible by the public and that “the courts serve all of the people, not designated, select groups.”

Attorneys for the Parikh have failed to respond to numerous requests for comment made throughout the course of the litigation.

Linda Woeber, managing partner at the Cincinnati firm Montgomery Jonson and attorney for the municipal court judges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting from the Cincinnati Enquirer in October uncovered the clerk has cost taxpayers at least $61,000 in legal fees so far in his battle to reinstate the policy.

No briefing schedule or oral argument date has been set by the Ohio Supreme Court as of yet.

Courthouse News is currently involved in federal litigation against Parikh for timely access to newly filed complaints in the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. Both parties in that case have submitted briefings in support of motions for summary judgment following a federal judge’s refusal to dismiss the case.

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