By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch
CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ohio — Critics believe Edwin Davila finally has hit the public-records-lawsuit lottery.
The disbarred lawyer from Canton and another man have sued at least six Ohio cities alleging the illegal destruction of old public records -- in this case, police calls on old reel-to-reel audiotapes from the 1990s.
Last month, a visiting judge in Crawford County awarded Davila $1.4 million, finding that the city of Bucyrus improperly destroyed 11,272 “records” by reusing tapes dating to 1994 without authorization by city policy or state law. The city plans to appeal.
Similar lawsuits have been filed against Bellefontaine, Martin’s Ferry, New Philadelphia, East Liverpool and Willard.
Some municipal officials think Davila is fishing for cash rather than demonstrating a true “public purpose” with his claim of researching 911 systems and police response times to calls made more than a decade ago.
“You have these predators and profiteers out there. They really don’t have any interest in it other than making money,” said John Gotherman, attorney for the Ohio Municipal League.
Gotherman thinks lawmakers should require people to demonstrate a “legitimate interest” and allow exploration of their motives before awarding damages of up to $1,000 for each destroyed record.
Davila said he is tired of being portrayed as a charlatan. “Instead of coming clean, they demonize me. I am the one on the right side of the law, and they complain?” he asked.
Under state law, neither Davila nor anyone else needs to explain why he wants public records or demonstrate how he was damaged if they cannot be provided.
The 5th District Court of Appeals recently overturned a jury verdict that found that Timothy Rhodes, who uses the same lawyer as Davila, was not entitled to damages in ruling that New Philadelphia apparently will have to pay him $84,000 in damages.
The court was not swayed by arguments that Rhodes was not an “aggrieved party” who had been damaged by a failure to produce records.
“The public records law gives access to any member of the ‘public’ regardless of the lack of purpose or ‘blackness’ of motive,” the judges ruled.
The court limited New Philadelphia’s liability by finding that the 84 destroyed police tapes each constituted a separate record rather than finding the 4,968 calls on the tapes were separate records with a fine of $1,000 each.
The judge in Bucyrus ruled otherwise, finding that each of 11,272 destroyed calls were separate records, resulting in the $1.4 million judgment. Gregory Beck, a lawyer for the city, is petitioning the judge to follow the appellate court’s ruling to reduce the amount the city potentially must pay.
Davila said he was entitled to more than $11 million but agreed to seek only $1.4 million -- the limit of the city’s insurance coverage. Motivation in seeking records doesn’t matter, Davila said. But he noted that his records requests in Bucyrus uncovered police radio logs containing inconsistencies with testimony in the trial of a man sent to Death Row. These have been provided to his lawyers.
Columbus lawyer Mark Weaver is defending Bellefontaine against a lawsuit filed by Davila, who served nearly three years in prison on federal money-laundering charges.
Weaver said the city has provided the police tapes that Davila requested, but that the man claims they were not produced quickly enough.
The judge has ordered the parties to mediate the case, but Bellefontaine denies any conduct that entitles Davila to damages, he said.
“We have done our level best to provide him access to the records,” even borrowing an antiquated recording system that could play the old tapes, Weaver said. “I can’t speak to his motives.”
Copyright 2010 The Columbus Dispatch