Lawrence E. Barbiere Wins Important Public Records Act Victory In Court of Appeals

SMBP government liability attorney Larry Barbiere successfully represented a former township assistant development administrator in a case where it was alleged the employee and the township violated the Ohio Public Records Act. The suit alleged the township and the employee unlawfully destroyed public records under R.C. 149.351 and failed to respond to a public records request within a reasonable time under R.C. 149.43. On August 27, 2012, the Ohio Twelfth District Court of Appeals handed down its decision in State ex rel. Doe v. Tetrault, CA2011-10-070, in which it, among other things, affirmed the trial court’s decision that certain notes created by a government employee on scrap paper and on a township owned laptop were not “public records” under the Act. View a copy of the decision.