Asking for a Public Record
ORC 149.43 — what you need not say, and the twenty five dollar court that hears a refusal
Two pages here already deal with one slice of this each, body worn camera footage and the minutes of a public meeting. Both are the same statute underneath, and the statute is far wider than either: it reaches records kept by any public office, and the things most often asked of a requester are things the requester does not have to give.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
You need not put it in writing, give your name, or say what it is for. A public office may ask a requester to make the request in writing, may ask for the requester's identity, and may inquire about the intended use of the information. It may do so only after disclosing that a written request is not mandatory, that the requester may decline to reveal their identity or the intended use, and how a written request or that disclosure would benefit the requester by helping the office identify, locate or deliver the records sought. An office that asks without disclosing those things has skipped the part of the section that protects the person asking.
| What is asked | What the section says |
|---|---|
| What is askedPut it in writing | What the section saysMay be asked for, is not mandatory, and the office says so first |
| What is askedWho are you | What the section saysMay be asked, may be declined, and the office says so first |
| What is askedWhat do you want it for | What the section saysMay be asked, may be declined, and the office says so first |
| What is askedPay for the copies | What the section saysCopies are made available at cost |
| What is askedWhy the request matters | What the section saysNot a thing the section conditions access on |
Upon request, all public records responsive to the request are promptly prepared and made available for inspection at all reasonable times during regular business hours, and copies are made available at cost and within a reasonable period of time. Neither promptly nor a reasonable period of time is given a number anywhere in the section, which is the thing about it people find hardest to work with and the thing a court decides case by case.
Video is the one place the section names what the delay may be for. In deciding whether a law enforcement agency or a prosecuting attorney's office promptly prepared a video record for inspection or produced a copy within a reasonable period of time, a court considers the time required to retrieve, download, review, redact, seek legal advice regarding, and produce the video record. That is a longer list than applies to a sheet of paper, and it is in the section rather than in an agency's policy.
A request that is ambiguous or overly broad may be denied, but the office provides the requester with an opportunity to revise it and informs the requester of the manner in which records are maintained and accessed by that office. A denial comes with an explanation, including legal authority, and where the request was in writing the explanation is in writing.
A refusal has two doors, one of them costs twenty five dollars, and the office gets three business days first. A person aggrieved by a failure to produce first serves a complaint on the public office, on a form prescribed by the clerk of the court of claims, and the office then has three business days to cure or otherwise address the failure. Nothing is filed with a court within those three business days. After them the person takes one route and not both: a complaint with the clerk of the court of claims, or of the court of common pleas of the county where the office is, under the public records section of the court of claims, which carries a twenty five dollar filing fee and is designed to be used without a lawyer; or a mandamus action, which is a court case with what a court case takes. Either filing carries a written affirmation that the office was served at least three business days before, and a suit filed without one is dismissed.
| Step in the court of claims | The period |
|---|---|
| Step in the court of claimsThe complaint is filed | The periodA twenty five dollar filing fee |
| Step in the court of claimsThe special master's report and recommendation reaches the parties | The periodSent by the clerk within three business days of filing |
| Step in the court of claimsEither party objects | The periodSeven business days after receiving the report |
| Step in the court of claimsThe other party responds to an objection | The periodSeven business days after receiving the objection |
| Step in the court of claimsThe court issues a final order | The periodSeven business days after the response is filed |
Where neither party objects in time, the court promptly issues a final order adopting the report and recommendation, unless it finds an error of law or other defect evident on the face of it. The objection period is therefore the whole of the argument for most people who use this route.
Statutory damages exist, and how the request was sent decides whether they do. Statutory damages are one hundred dollars for each business day of the failure, counted from the day a mandamus action to recover them is filed, up to a maximum of one thousand dollars. They are available only where the requester transmitted a written request by hand delivery, electronic submission, or certified mail, in a manner that fairly describes the public record sought. A request made over the counter or by telephone is a valid request and is not one that carries these damages.
Many categories of record are exempt from release by this section or by another statute, including certain law enforcement investigatory records, medical records, and trial preparation records, and none of those exemptions are set out here. A request by a person incarcerated on a criminal offense is subject to its own requirements in the same section. Whether a particular record is a public record, and what a particular refusal is worth, are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney. The Ohio Attorney General publishes the Sunshine Laws manual and runs training on this section.
Sources for this section (2)
- ORC 149.43 — Availability of public records, including law enforcement video
- ORC 2743.75 — The court of claims route for a denied public records request
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.