Work product

The Ohio Supreme Court ordered a judge to release all records sealed during the criminal prosecutions of several Mahoning County officials and business owners. The state high court also prohibited the judge from issuing further orders sealing records in the high-profile criminal-conspiracy case.

“We decide this case based on the Rules of Superintendence, which provide for public access to court records,” according to the opinion issued Wednesday.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday that with respect to agency records related to lead poisoning, only portions that do not have “personal identifying information” can be released under the Ohio Public Records Act.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled that a federal agency's release of documents in a criminal prosecution did not require another agency to release the same or related documents under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The Washington state Supreme Court unanimously ruled last week that Justice Richard Sanders, a member of the court, was entitled to receive four documents wrongfully withheld from disclosure based on claimed attorney-client and work product privileges, in a case springing from an ethics investigation against the judge.