Proposed public-access rules for Court records will go to Ohio Supreme Court for review

COLUMBUS - A commission drawing up public-access rules for court records voted on Friday to forward a draft proposal to the Ohio Supreme Court for review.

It is the closest the Commission on the Rules of Superintendence for Ohio Courts has come in two years of studying the topic to finally spelling out what a court record is and what should be available to the public.

But the commission said it would also recommend that the seven justices give the public one last peek at the proposal and offer comments before the high court votes on the measure and makes it official.

That came as a last-minute suggestion just as the 20-member commission was preparing to vote after dozens of tweaks and one objection from the panel to the 344-line proposal.

"I believe this proposal still restricts public access to court records too much," said Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick, who voted against the proposal.

"I believe we need to rethink this," Dellick said. "I just think court records should be open."

For example, Dellick points to language in the proposal that allows court records to be sealed in some cases - which has also been a point of contention by some members of the public following the commission's work.

The commission would allow some information to be removed from a court record at litigants' request, if they can prove that public dissemination of the information would be personally harmful, putting them at risk.

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