State ex rel. Freedom Communications Inc. v. Elida Community Fire Company

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State ex rel. Freedom Communications Inc. vs. Elida Community Fire Company Number: 82 Ohio St. 3d 578, 697 N.E.2d 210 Year: 1998 State: Ohio Court: Ohio Supreme Court Other lawsuits in Ohio Other lawsuits in 1998 Precedents include: This case established a number of important precedents: This case affirmed the notion that any "entity organized for rendering service to residents of the community and supported by public taxation is a public institution." This case established that records of disciplinary action and termination were not exempt under personal privacy exemptions or police and criminal investigation records.

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State ex rel. Freedom Communications Inc. v. Elida Community Fire Company was a case before the Ohio Supreme Court in 1998 concerning the application of open records laws to private corporations.

Important precedents

This case established a number of important precedents:

1. This case affirmed the notion that any "entity organized for rendering service to residents of the community and supported by public taxation is a public institution."
2. This case established that records of disciplinary action and termination were not exempt under personal privacy exemptions or police and criminal investigation records.

Background

• The Elida Community Fire Company (ECFC) is a private nonprofit corporation that maintains fire protection for the town of Elida. Under the current contract the ECFC receives tax money from the twons fire and rescue levies and rent free property, in exchange for fire protection services to the people of the community.
• Freedom Communications Inc. submitted a records request for records relating to internal investigations and termination letters within the ECFC.
• ECFC denied the request claiming that it was a private corporation and not subject to the act.
• Freedom Communications filed suit.

Ruling of the court

The court ruled in favor of Freedom Communications, ordered the records released. The court first established that ECFC's private nonprofit status did not automatically exempt them from the open records law, citing State ex rel. Toledo Blade v. University of Toledo Foundation. The court went on to determine that ECFC was in fact a public body, because it was an "entity organized for rendering service to residents of the community and supported by public taxation is a public institution." The court determined that the function of fire protection and prevention was an inherently governmental function and that the money received from taxes and the rent free property constituted direct public funding. Finally the court rejected the ECFC's allegations that the documents in question were exempt. The court determined that the investigations and terminations were not law-enforcement records within the general intention of the statute. Nor were the donor profiles as they had no relationship to donations of any kind. Nor did the files fall under a personal privacy exemptions as the court felt that their release would not lead to the same risks as other information, like social security information, that the courts have typically protected. Based on these determinations, the court ruled in favor of Freedom Communications and ordered the documents released.

Associated cases

• State ex rel. Toledo Blade v. University of Toledo Foundation

External links

• Ruling of the Court