Finney Law Firm brings suit to force public disclosure of Ed FitzGerald’s official activities

Wednesday, Finney Law Firm attorneys Curt Hartman and Christopher Finney brought a mandamus action at the Ohio Supreme Court to force disclosure of the official records of Cuyahoga County, Ohio relating to Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald’s use of his pass card for entering and leaving official County buildings.  FitzGerald is the democrat nominee for Governor in the November election.

Both the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper and the Ohio Republican Party have sought the records, yet FitzGerald and his County employees have refused to release the same.

The documents are clearly public records as defined by Ohio law, and no exception in the statute to their disclosure applies.  In other words, they are required by law to be produced.

Finney Law Firm has filed an original action for “mandamus,” directly with the Ohio Supreme Court.  Ohio law allows the “Relator” in such action, essentially the plaintiff, to choose whether to file the action with any of a County Common Pleas Court, an Ohio Appeals Court or the Ohio Supreme Court.  An action in mandamus is one to require a public official, here FitzGerald and other County employees, to perform duties they are required under the law to perform.

Read our complaint for writ of mandamus here.

Read our memorandum in support of writ of mandamus here.

Stay tuned to our blog for breaking developments in this matter.

Chris Finney
Attorney | ‭513-943-6655 | [email protected] | + posts