Public Official Immunity in Ohio

In a case stemming from a 2004 identity theft in which personal information had been acquired from a traffic ticket’s having been posted on the county’s website, the Ohio Supreme Court last Friday ruled that “ when the allegations contained in a civil complaint are directed against an office of a political subdivision, an officeholder named as a defendant in that complaint is sued in his or her official capacity, rather than as an individual; claims therefore against the officeholder are subject to the “political subdivision” immunity analysis set forth in R.C. 2744.02(C), rather than the ‘political subdivision employee’ immunity standards set forth in R.C. 2744.03(A)(6).

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