State ex rel. Ayers v. Sackett

Summary

The Ohio Supreme Court granted a writ of mandamus in part, ordering the prison records custodian to produce a general retention schedule, while denying relief for non‑existent surveillance footage; it awarded $1,000 in statutory damages for the schedule and denied court costs. The Court held that administrative exhaustion is not required for a mandamus action, that the relator must prove record existence by clear and convincing evidence, that the retention schedule is a public record subject to disclosure, and that statutory damages apply only where the public office failed to comply with its statutory duty.