Ohio court to determine status of deleted e-mail under open records law

 The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on whether a deleted government e-mail file qualifies as a public document subject to state open records requests, according to The (Toledo) Blade.  

The Blade reported it initially requested from Seneca County commissioners all e-mails sent, received or deleted during an 18-month period under the Ohio Public Records Law. The paper then sued to have the county hire a forensic expert who would recover any e-mails deleted from government computers during the time period.  

The paper reported that it asked for the messages because the deleted e-mails could contain illegal private communications regarding the proposed razing of a historic courthouse, while the county called the hiring of a forensic computer expert an unnecessary burden to taxpayers.