Opinion

State ex rel. Yost v. Google, L.L.C.

  • 2026 Ohio 2148
Court
Ohio Court of Appeals
Filed
Jun 8, 2026
Status
Published
On the bench
King
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 40.9%

persuasive federal articulation of the same longstanding test

How later courts described this case

  • persuasive federal articulation of the same longstanding test
  • tracing early English statutes addressing carrier "combination" that raised prices "to the great injury of the trade"

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

[Cite as State ex rel. Yost v. Google, L.L.C., 2026-Ohio-2148.]

IN THE OHIO COURT OF APPEALS

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO

STATE OF OHIO EX REL. YOST Case No. 25 CAE 08 0070

Plaintiff - Appellant Opinion And Judgment Entry

-vs- Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, Case

No. 21 CV H 06 0274

GOOGLE, LLC

Judgment: Affirmed

Defendant - Appellee

Date of Judgment Entry: June 8, 2026

BEFORE: Andrew J. King; Craig R. Baldwin; Robert G. Montgomery, Judges

APPEARANCES: JENNIFER L. PRATT, CHAD M. KOHLER, DAVID OPPENHEIMER,

for Plaintiff-Appellant; MICHAEL R. GLADMAN, JUSTIN E. HERDMAN, MOLLY M.

DENGLER, JOHN E. SCHMIDTLEIN, KENNETH C. SMURZYNSKI, GLORIA K.

MAIER, for Defendant-Appellee.

King, P.J.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-Appellant, Attorney General Dave Yost, appeals the August 15,

2025 opinion and order of the Delaware County Common Pleas Court denying its motion

for summary judgment and granting the motion for summary judgment filed by

Defendant-Appellee, Google, Inc. This appeal asks whether Google's operation of its

internet search engine constitutes a common carrier under Ohio common law. The trial

court correctly concluded that it does not. We affirm the trial court.

I. Procedural History

{¶ 2} On June 8, 2021, the State filed a complaint against Google out of a concern

that Google prioritized the information it provided that best boosted its bottom line

instead of providing the most useful and relevant information to the public. Count One

sought a declaration that Google was a public utility/common carrier under Ohio

common law. Count Two sought relief.

{¶ 3} On May 24, 2022, the public utility claim in Count One was dismissed under

Civ.R. 12(B); the counts were then bifurcated. The first phase addressed whether Google

satisfied the elements to be declared a common carrier; if so, the second phase would

address any obligations to be imposed upon Google as a common carrier.

{¶ 4} Following discovery, each party filed motions for summary judgment on the

common carrier claim in Count One. By opinion and order filed August 15, 2025, the trial

court granted Google's motion for summary judgment and denied the State's motion for

summary judgment. The trial court based its decision upon its findings on two elements

of common carriage: the requirement that the carrier transport property and the

requirement that the carrier hold itself out as providing its services "indifferently." In a

lengthy opinion, the trial court found Google did not transport people nor did it transport

product for others; Google does not transport information, the internet service provider

("ISP") does, i.e., cable and mobile companies. Further, the trial court found Google does

not send search information indifferently as it differentiates the information it sends out

based on several factors.

{¶ 5} The State filed an appeal with the following assignments of error:

I

{¶ 6} "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING GOOGLE'S MOTION FOR

SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING THE STATE'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY

JUDGMENT ON THE GROUNDS THAT GOOGLE SEARCH DOES NOT TRANSPORT

PROPERTY."

II

{¶ 7} "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING GOOGLE'S MOTION FOR

SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING THE STATE'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY

JUDGMENT ON THE GROUNDS THAT GOOGLE DOES NOT HOLD ITSELF OUT AS

INDIFFERENTLY PROVIDING INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC."

II. Standard of Review

{¶ 8} Summary judgment motions are to be resolved in light of the dictates of

Civ.R. 56. Regarding summary judgment, the Supreme Court stated the following in State

ex rel. Zimmerman v. Tompkins, 75 Ohio St.3d 447, 448 (1996):

Civ.R. 56(C) provides that before summary judgment may be

granted, it must be determined that (1) no genuine issue as to any material

fact remains to be litigated, (2) the moving party is entitled to judgment as

a matter of law, and (3) it appears from the evidence that reasonable minds

can come to but one conclusion, and viewing such evidence most strongly

in favor of the nonmoving party, that conclusion is adverse to the party

against whom the motion for summary judgment is made. State ex. rel.

Parsons v. Fleming (1994), 68 Ohio St.3d 509, 511, 628 N.E.2d 1377, 1379,

citing Temple v. Wean United, Inc. (1977), 50 Ohio St.2d 317, 327, 4 O.O.3d

466, 472, 364 N.E.2d 267, 274.

{¶ 9} In Leech v. Schumaker, 2015-Ohio-4444, ¶ 13 (5th Dist.), this court

explained the following:

It is well established the party seeking summary judgment bears the

burden of demonstrating that no issues of material fact exist for trial.

Celotex Corp. v. Catrett (1986), 477 U.S. 317, 330, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91

L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The standard for granting summary judgment is

delineated in Dresher v. Burt (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 280 at 293: " * * * a

party seeking summary judgment, on the ground that the nonmoving party

cannot prove its case, bears the initial burden of informing the trial court of

the basis for the motion, and identifying those portions of the record that

demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact on the essential

element(s) of the nonmoving party's claims. The moving party cannot

discharge its initial burden under Civ.R. 56 simply by making a conclusory

assertion the nonmoving party has no evidence to prove its case. Rather, the

moving party must be able to specifically point to some evidence of the type

listed in Civ.R. 56(C) which affirmatively demonstrates the nonmoving

party has no evidence to support the nonmoving party's claims. If the

moving party fails to satisfy its initial burden, the motion for summary

judgment must be denied. However, if the moving party has satisfied its

initial burden, the nonmoving party then has a reciprocal burden outlined

in Civ.R. 56(E) to set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for

trial and, if the nonmovant does not so respond, summary judgment, if

appropriate, shall be entered against the nonmoving party." The record on

summary judgment must be viewed in the light most favorable to the

opposing party. Williams v. First United Church of Christ (1974), 37 Ohio

St.2d 150.

{¶ 10} As an appellate court reviewing summary judgment motions, we stand in

place of the trial court and review the issues de novo, under the same standards and

evidence as the trial court. Grafton v. Ohio Edison Co., 77 Ohio St.3d 102, 105 (1996).

III. Material Undisputed Facts

{¶ 11} Google Search works as follows: users submit queries; Google's systems

crawl only a small fraction of the web's estimated 100+ trillion pages, build proprietary

indices, and, for each individual query, select, rank, filter, and format results into a unique

Search Results Page ("SRP"). The SRP is Google's own curated product, not a passive

transmission of third-party content. Initial transmission and final delivery from and to

the user occurs over networks owned and operated by ISPs. Google's role is to receive the

query and to respond to it as it sees fit.

{¶ 12} Google states that its ranking and presentation decisions involve editorial

judgment based on relevance, quality, user context, and other proprietary signals. This

makes each SRP unique. These facts are undisputed. See August 15, 2025 Opinion and

Order at 2-4; Nayak Affidavit & Deposition; additional record citations omitted.

{¶ 13} The State argues Google "satisfies every element needed to be a common

carrier of information. The information it carries, although intangible, is precious cargo

to the users who seek it. Those users deserve the protection that the law affords to

customers of common carriers. " Appellant's Brief at 26.

IV. Historical Development of the Common Carrier Doctrine

{¶ 14} The common carrier doctrine is one of the oldest bodies of Anglo-American

law. Its roots lie in medieval English "public callings" i.e., occupations whose very nature

required service to all members of the public without discrimination. The first reported

case involved a ferryman in 1348. By the seventeenth century, the obligation extended to

innkeepers, farriers, and carriers. See Lane v. Cotton, 1 Ld. Raym. 646 (1701). A

contemporary commentator, Sir Matthew Hale (later named Lord Chief Justice of the

King's Bench) wrote De Portibus Maris (c. 1670). He observed when private property is

"affected with a public interest, it ceases to be juris privati only." Lord Chief Justice Hale's

statement was later approvingly cited by the Supreme Court of the United States when it

reviewed the issue of the constitutionality of regulating rates of certain businesses.

{¶ 15} In Munn v. Illinois, 94 U.S. 113 (1876), the Supreme Court upheld an Illinois

statute fixing maximum rates for grain storage in Chicago warehouses, holding that when

private property is devoted to a use in which the public has an interest, the owner may be

forced to submit to regulation. The Court rejected the argument that such regulation

violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, affirming the state's broad

police power to regulate businesses "affected with a public interest."

{¶ 16} Chief Justice Waite, writing for the majority, grounded the analysis in Lord

Chief Justice Hale's centuries-old treatise De Portibus Maris, citing the aforementioned

quote: when private property is "affected with a public interest, it ceases to be juris privati

only." Munn at 126. The Court translated this principle into American constitutional law:

"Property does become clothed with a public interest when used in a manner to make it

of public consequence, and affect the community at large." Id.

{¶ 17} After extensively quoting from Lord Chief Justice Hale's treatise, the Court

ruled thusly (Id. at 130):

Common carriers exercise a sort of public office, and have duties to

perform in which the public is interested. New Jersey Nav. Co. v.

Merchants' Bank, 6 How. 382. Their business is, therefore, "affected with a

public interest," within the meaning of the doctrine which Lord Hale has so

forcibly stated.

But we need not go further. Enough has already been said to show

that, when private property is devoted to a public use, it is subject to public

regulation.

{¶ 18} The Court went on to conclude that since every bushel of grain "pays a toll"

that is a common charge, then it ought to be subject to public regulation that only a

reasonable toll is to be extracted. Id. at 132. Although the legislature intervened rather

than the judiciary, the Court found that to be without consequence; the doctrine applied

the same. Id. at 132-133. Justice Field dissented, questioning in part whether the

principles announced by Lord Chief Justice Hale applied in the case because the sovereign

did not dedicate the channel of commerce, such as a warehouse, to the public, therefore,

there was no basis to extend the common carrier doctrine to the business before the court.

Id. at 151-152.

{¶ 19} Thus, after Munn, the doctrine had both established its constitutional

blessing and had arguably expanded its reach, allowing for more legislative intervention.

As this doctrine was applied in a myriad of contexts and to emerging technologies, the

principle of non-discrimination emerged as a frequent judicial explanation for

intervention; these courts usually held that common carriers must "serve the public

without partiality and without unreasonable discrimination." Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chi.

& St. Louis Ry. Co. v. Wood, 45 Ind.App. 1 (1909); Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Northern

Pacific Terminal Co., 128 F. Supp. 475 (D.Or. 1953); National Asso. of Regulatory Utility

Comm'rs v. Federal Communications Com. (NARUC I), 525 F.2d 630, 641 (D.C.Cir.

1976); National Asso. of Regulatory Utility Comm'rs v. Federal Communications Com.,

533 F.2d 601, 608 (D.C.Cir. 1976) ("the primary sine qua non of common carrier status is

a quasi-public character, which arises out of the undertaking 'to carry for all people

indifferently. . . .'"). But it is fair to say that legislation intervention has become more

common.

{¶ 20} As new technologies and market conditions emerged, the doctrine adapted,

primarily through legislative action. Railroads prompted the Interstate Commerce Act of

1887; telegraph and telephone companies were regulated under the Mann-Elkins Act of

1910 and the Communications Act of 1934 (Title II). Consumer protection concerns,

particularly the need to curb monopoly power and combination that drove rates to

excessive levels, supplied an important justification for rate regulation. Munn, 94 U.S. at

126, 130 (tracing early English statutes addressing carrier "combination" that raised

prices "to the great injury of the trade").

{¶ 21} Ohio broadly follows this same pattern. The state courts recognize the

authority of courts to intervene by way of the common carrier doctrine. The doctrine has

been applied to neutral conduits that carry goods, passengers, or "messages" to do so with

reasonable and nondiscriminatory rates. But much of the regulatory work is done under

statutory authority given to regulatory agencies. For example, R.C. Ch. 4905 subjects

many public utilities to PUCO oversight. The General Assembly has not extended

common carrier or public utility obligations to search engines or similar application-layer

services. Thus, we are limited to addressing the judiciary's authority to hear the complaint

and fashion any appropriate remedy.

V. Ohio's Common Carrier Test

{¶ 22} Ohio's common law definition of a common carrier is well-established. A

common carrier is one who, as a regular business, undertakes for hire to transport persons

or property from place to place and holds itself out to the public as ready and willing to

serve all members of the public indifferently. See, e.g., Samms v. Stewart & McKibben,

20 Ohio 69 (1851); Bruer v. Public Utils Com, 118 Ohio St. 95 (1928), syllabus; Conver v.

EKH Co., 2003-Ohio-5033, ¶ 32 (10th District); August 15, 2025 Opinion and Order at 8-

10 (collecting authorities).

{¶ 23} Two distinct elements must be satisfied: (1) the carrier element - actual

transportation of the property (or persons) of others; and (2) the common element -

holding out to serve the public indiscriminately. See Kinder Morgan Cochin LLC v.

Simonson, 2016-Ohio-4647, ¶ 33 (5th Dist.) ("we find that common carrier is consistently

defined as one who undertakes to transport persons or property from place to place, for

hire, and holds itself out to the public as ready and willing to serve the public

indifferently.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) See also NARUC I, 525 F.2d 630

(D.C.Cir. 1976) (persuasive federal articulation of the same longstanding test).

VI. Application

A. Google Does Not "Transport" the Property of Others

(The Carrier Prong)

{¶ 24} Typically, when we are considering the carrier prong, we are asked to review

the transportation of property or people. That is not the case here. As discussed in several

of the cases cited above, a carrier handles the property akin to a bailment. It is simply

moving it from one place to another. At its most general, the core concern of this prong is

receiving the property of another and returning it unaltered after transporting it or

transporting a person from one point to another.

{¶ 25} Based on the facts before us, we conclude that Google does not transport the

unaltered property of others. It affirmatively creates a new expressive product, the SRP,

through discretionary crawling, indexing, ranking, filtering, and formatting. This is

curation and synthesis, not carriage. The trial court correctly rejected the State's attempt

to treat underlying "information" as the transported property. See Richards v. Google

LLC, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26279 (W.D.Va. 2026); Zhang v. Baidu.Com Inc., 10

F.Supp.3d 433 (S.D.N.Y. 2014).

{¶ 26} The State's analogy to telephone service breaks down when one examines

the actual flow of data. A user sends a query to Google; that query is a simple request

consisting of the user's own words or terms. Even assuming arguendo that Google has

some common law duty to transmit the incoming query fairly and unaltered, the State's

complaint centers on the return leg - the SRP Google delivers back to the user.

{¶ 27} That return data is not the user's property, nor is it third-party content

transmitted unaltered. Google receives the query, consults its own proprietary indices,

applies its own ranking algorithms, makes relevance and quality judgments, filters

results, and assembles a new, curated response that did not previously exist in that form.

The SRP is Google's own expressive product, not the user's or any third party's property

being carried back unaltered. Traditional common carriers do not create the cargo they

transport; they accept the shipper's or speaker's existing goods or message and deliver

them substantially as received. Google does neither on the return leg.

{¶ 28} We acknowledge the test announced in Munn is plainly broader than how

Ohio courts have looked at the question of judicially regulating a common carrier. In

finding that the state could regulate the rates charged to store grain, it relied on a much

broader standard. There, the Court held that if a business had taken on a public character,

it was then susceptible to legislative oversight. But here there is neither a statute for us to

consider, nor did the Attorney General ask us to displace our precedent and expand the

scope of our judicial power over common carriers. Moreover, we observe that the Ninth

Circuit questioned the application of the common carrier doctrine to Google Gmail, which

appears to function more like a common carrier than Google's search function.

Republican Nat'l Comm. v. Google, Inc., 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 1192 (9th Cir. Jan. 16,

2026).

{¶ 29} Thus, we find it necessary and appropriate to consider whether Google's

search service meets the carriage prong. We hold it does not; thus, the trial court properly

held that Google fails the carrier prong on the undisputed facts.

B. Google Does Not Hold Itself Out to Serve the Public Indifferently

(The Common Prong)

{¶ 30} Perhaps the most defining characteristic of common carrier status, in all its

forms, has been the obligation to serve the public without unjust discrimination, or stated

in the affirmative: to provide the service on indifferent terms. NARUC I, 525 F.2d at 641.

Historically, the primary remedy associated with this obligation was judicial or regulatory

oversight to ensure that rates were reasonable, properly differentiated according to cost

and competitive conditions, and free from unjust or arbitrary discrimination. See Munn,

94 U.S. 113. We turn now to that consideration.

{¶ 31} Google's pervasive presence in modern life is undeniable. For many

Ohioans, Google Search is the de facto gateway to information. Even assuming for the

sake of argument that Google's Terms of Service would not, by themselves, justify refusing

certain user inputs (queries), the Attorney General's concern lies primarily with outputs

- the ranking, presentation, and curation of search results.

{¶ 32} At this point the common carrier doctrine encounters a fundamental

mismatch. Traditional common carrier regulation centers on the relationship between

price and service. Courts and regulators assess whether rates are just and reasonable.

Google, however, provides its core search service to users at no direct charge. Its revenue

comes overwhelmingly from advertising, not from the users whose results the State seeks

to regulate. There is no traditional "rate" for the court to review or adjust. Scholarship in

this area often concludes classic common carrier rate regulation is poorly suited to two-

sided, zero-price-to-user, innovation-driven markets; any nondiscrimination obligation

imposed here would necessarily target the content and ordering of outputs rather than

prices, raising a distinct and more constitutionally sensitive set of issues.1

{¶ 33} Thus, even if one were to accept the State's position that Google qualifies as

a common carrier, fashioning an appropriate remedy would take this Court far outside

the traditional judicial role in common carrier cases. The common law of common carriers

does not supply a ready template for regulating the editorial output of a free service whose

business model does not depend on user payments. The trial court concluded correctly

1 See generally Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Senate, The Economics of Price

Controls (Sept. 2022), https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/7171cb80-ef0d-

4058-b3e6-f20fe608745f/the-economics-of-price-controls-final-092122.pdf (accessed

May 2026) (summarizing economic literature showing price ceilings cause shortages,

reduce quality/innovation, and distort investment — principles that apply with even

greater force to zero-price, two-sided digital markets); see also George J. Stigler & Claire

Friedland, What Can Regulators Regulate? The Case of Electricity, 5 J. L. & Econ. 1

(1962) (classic empirical study questioning efficacy of rate regulation even in natural-

monopoly settings).

that Google does not hold itself out to serve the public indifferently in the sense required

by the common carrier doctrine.

C. Ubiquity, Monopoly Power, and the "Affected with a Public Interest"

Doctrine

{¶ 34} The State argues that Google's search engine has become so ubiquitous and

central to modern life that its business is "affected with a public interest" in the sense

articulated by Lord Chief Justice Hale and the Supreme Court in Munn. There is no

question that Google Search exerts enormous influence over the flow of information.

Consumer protection and monopoly concerns have historically justified regulation of true

common carriers.

{¶ 35} However, the "affected with a public interest" principle supplies a

constitutional justification for legislation and regulation; it does not dispense with the

common carrier doctrine's two core requirements for judicial intervention. As stated

above, the Attorney General did not ask us to abandon the common carrier standard

altogether. Even if he had, we would be cautious in accepting the invitation. The essence

of the judiciary is to resolve disputes between the parties and not to engage in extensive,

top-level policy making that the legislative branch is better equipped to handle. Even if

the judiciary were to accept the responsibility for determining what businesses affected

the public interest so profoundly that they lost their purely private status, the next step

would be how to do this within the confines of the now well-established complaint,

answer, discovery, and judgment continuum. In this system, the parties are bringing us

disputes, providing us with the facts, and arguing the law. This necessarily leads to more

modest pronouncements on any given subject matter than what the legislature may

accomplish with legislation.

{¶ 36} It appears that the Attorney General singled out Google because of its

monopoly-like status in this field. But ubiquity and market share do not justify novel

judicial intervention here. Munn supplied a constitutional justification for legislative

intervention in a natural-monopoly setting; it did not authorize courts to judicially impose

common carrier status on new technologies whose core function is editorial curation

rather than neutral transport. Although some scholars contend that dominant platforms

satisfy the common law elements of holding themselves out to serve the public and

operating facilities affected with a public interest, the editorial and curatorial nature of

search results, as opposed to neutral transmission of others' unaltered messages or

property, distinguishes this service from traditional common carriage.2

{¶ 37} If the General Assembly concludes that search engines warrant public utility

style oversight due to their market position, it may enact appropriate legislation as it has

done for other industries. This Court will not accomplish by judicial fiat what the

legislature has not chosen to do. We therefore decline to adopt a broader judicial

regulation under the Munn standard.

VII. Additional Considerations

(A) Federal Preemption

{¶ 38} There are alternative reasons to decline judicially regulating search engines

as the Attorney General requests. We briefly look to these and conclude that there are

additional reasons not to pursue Munn-style intervention in this case. Foremost is that

treating search engines as common carriers under state law would raise serious questions

of conflict with federal communications policy. Congress and the FCC have long

2 Ganesh Sitaraman & Morgan Ricks, Tech Platforms and the Common Law of Carriers,

73 Duke L.J. 1037 (2024).

distinguished "information services" (a category that includes search engines) from

traditional telecommunications services subject to common carrier regulation. See 47

U.S.C. 153(24); Mozilla Corp. v. FCC, 940 F.3d 1 (D.C.Cir. 2019). We could easily

undertake the vain effort to regulate Google under state common carrier law, only to have

that effort blocked by federal law. See, e.g., State ex rel. Att'y Gen. Dave Yost v. Cent.

Tobacco & Stuff, Inc., 2025-Ohio-4613 (5th Dist.).

(B) First Amendment Implications

{¶ 39} Aside from the preemption issue under the Supremacy Clause, we would

also need to be mindful of the First Amendment. The undisputed facts and the State's

legal arguments make clear that the core concern underlying this litigation is the

regulation of Google's editorial judgments in curating, ranking, and presenting

information. This is, at bottom, an attempt to regulate speech.

{¶ 40} We do not discount the legitimate policy concerns that animate the State's

position. Google's dominant market position gives it outsized influence over the modern

public square. Congressional investigations and disclosures regarding government-

platform communications have raised serious questions about content moderation

practices, viewpoint discrimination, and the influence of dominant technology

platforms.3 These issues may indeed support a compelling governmental interest in

narrowly tailored legislation designed to promote transparency or address demonstrable

harms.

3 See Final Report: The Weaponization of the Federal Government, Select Subcommittee

of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, 118th Cong. (2024)

https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/final-report-weaponization-federal-

government (accessed June 2026) (documenting extensive government communications

with Twitter regarding content moderation and suppression of accounts and viewpoints).

{¶ 41} But the ancient common carrier doctrine is not the proper vehicle for

addressing these concerns. Imposing common carrier obligations on Google's search

functions would necessarily compel the company to carry, rank, or display speech it would

otherwise choose to de-emphasize or exclude — precisely the type of editorial discretion

the First Amendment protects when exercised by private entities compiling and

presenting third-party speech. Moody v. NetChoice, LLC, 603 U.S. 707 (2024); Miami

Herald Pub. Co., Div. of Knight Newspapers, Inc. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974). The

same protections exist under Article I, Section 11 of the Ohio Constitution.

{¶ 42} Extending common carrier status here would not avoid First Amendment

scrutiny; it would trigger it. Because Google's search results are its own expressive

product rather than neutral carriage, the common carrier doctrine does not fit this

business model. Any broader regulatory response belongs to the legislative branch.

Avoiding an apparent constitutional question is yet another reason to stay within our two-

prong common carrier test rather than recast it as a more encompassing tool under Munn.

VIII. Conclusion

{¶ 43} Google Search is not a common carrier under Ohio common law. It fails

under either prong of our traditional test. While the Attorney General points to facts such

as monopoly power and suggests a more robust judicial intervention is required, we

decline to depart from our precedent. Among other reasons, the apparent preemption and

free speech issues, together with the expressive character of search outputs under the

Munn framework, counsel against departing from our traditional two-prong test. See

State v. Striblin, 2024-Ohio-2142, ¶ 22. (5th Dist.).

{¶ 44} This conclusion is consistent with the historical limits of the common

carrier doctrine, the practical mismatch between traditional rate regulation and modern

platform economics, and the judiciary's proper role in deferring complex policy choices

involving speech and technology to the legislative branch. We, therefore, affirm the

judgment of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.

{¶ 45} Costs to Appellant.

By: King, P.J.

Baldwin, J. and

Montgomery, J. concur.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.