Opinion
No. 86-572
Decided March 11, 1987.
Public records — Mandamus — Writ denied for mootness — Public record furnished.
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Franklin County.
Appellant, Henry J. Fant, filed a mandamus action in the court of appeals on December 27, 1984, seeking a copy of the final approval by appellee, the Director of Administrative Services, of the provisional hiring by the Ohio Reformatory for Women of Records Management Officer 1, Class No. 63271, Control Code 84-40, P.C.N. 1308.0. Appellant's asserted right to this document was based on the disclosure requirements of public records as set forth in R.C. 149.40 and 149.43.
In his motion to dismiss, appellee attached thereto a copy of the department's response to appellant's initial letter requesting the final approval. The response recited that the approval given was not final, but provisional only. A copy of the provisional approval was furnished to appellant. Notification was then given the parties by the referee to the effect that the matter would proceed as in summary judgment with opportunity given for presentation of pertinent evidence. Following entry of stipulations and further discovery, the referee issued a report, dated April 15, 1985, finding in essence that appellee had complied with appellant's request by providing all relevant documentation in the department's possession. The report recommended that summary judgment be granted to appellee.
In May 1985, subsequent to the referee's report, the appellee submitted to the court of appeals and the appellant a copy of the final approval hiring order that was the subject of the mandamus complaint, claiming excusable error. The court of appeals ultimately adopted the report of the referee, granted summary judgment to appellee, and noted that "* * * respondent has presented to relator, since May 1985, all documentation and information requested."
The cause is now before this court upon an appeal as of right.
Appellee's motion for leave to file a brief instanter is granted for good cause.
Henry J. Fant, pro se. Anthony J. Celebrezze, Jr., attorney general, and Thomas L. Rosenberg, for appellee.
Appellant questions the adoption of the referee's report by the court of appeals inasmuch as the report preceded the actual furnishing of the public record sought herein. Additionally, appellant points to a number of procedural defects at the referee's level. The questions raised are moot because appellant has been furnished with the public record he is seeking.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the court of appeals granting summary judgment to the appellee, thus denying mandamus relief, is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
MOYER, C.J., SWEENEY, LOCHER, HOLMES, WRIGHT and H. BROWN, JJ., concur.
DOUGLAS, J., concurs in judgment only.