Obergefell et al v. Kasich et al
Filing
66
DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION. Signed by Judge Timothy S. Black on 12/23/2013. (mr1)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
WESTERN DIVISION
JAMES OBERGEFELL, et al.
:
:
Plaintiffs,
:
:
vs.
:
:
THEODORE W. WYMYSLO, M.D., et al. :
:
Defendants.
:
Case No. 1:13-cv-501
Judge Timothy S. Black
DECLARATORY JUDGMENT
AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION
This Court earlier entered a Temporary Restraining Order in this case as applied to
Plaintiffs Obergefell and Arthur and a similar Order as applied to Plaintiff Michener.
(Docs. 14 and 23). The parties extended these Orders by agreement until final disposition
of this case. (Docs. 16 and 23). Now, upon consideration of Plaintiffs’ Motion for
Declaratory Judgment and Permanent Injunction (Doc. 53), the parties’ responsive
memoranda (Docs. 56 and 62), and the record evidence, the Court has found and
concluded that Plaintiffs’ motion is appropriately granted. (Doc. 56). Consequently,
the Court now enters final judgment of declaratory judgment and permanent injunction.
Specifically, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have established that Ohio Const. Art.
XV, §11 and Ohio Rev. Code. § 3101.01(C) violate rights secured by the Fourteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution in that same-sex couples legally married in
other jurisdictions who seek to have their out-of-state marriages recognized and accepted
as legal in and by Ohio are denied due process of law when the attendant protections and
benefits of their existing marriages are denied by the state and are denied the equal
protection of the laws when Ohio does recognize heterosexual marriages from other
jurisdictions, even if the heterosexual marriage is of a kind not authorized in Ohio. The
evidence demonstrates that there is no state interest sufficient to justify denying same-sex
married couples the same recognition of their existing marriages.
Therefore, this Court hereby DECLARES that Ohio Const. Art. XV, §11 and
Ohio Rev. Code. § 3101.01(C) are unconstitutional as applied to Plaintiffs, and that the
filing of death certificates on behalf of Plaintiffs in valid same-sex marriages from other
jurisdictions, if requested, shall recognize decedents as “married” or “widowed” and shall
acknowledge decedents’ “surviving spouses.”
The Court further DECLARES that Ohio Const. Art. XV, §11 and Ohio Rev.
Code. § 3101.01(C) violate the constitutional rights of those same-sex couples married in
jurisdictions that authorize same-sex marriage who become clients of Plaintiff Robert
Grunn and about whom he reports information regarding their marital status and status as
surviving spouses in support of their requests for death certificates.
Specifically, this Court DECLARES that Plaintiff Robert Grunn may, consistent
with the Constitution of the United States and this Court’s Final Order, report that a
decedent married in a state authorizing same-sex marriage is “married” or “widowed”
and report the name of the decedent’s surviving same-sex spouse on an Ohio death
certificate he completes in the course of his work as a funeral director in Ohio.
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Defendants Theodore Wymyslo and Camille Jones, and their officers, agents, and
employees, and those persons in active concert or participation with Defendants who
receive actual notice of this Order, are also PERMANENTLY ENJOINED from
enforcing Ohio Const. Art. XV, §11 and Ohio Rev. Code. § 3101.01(C), as applied to
Plaintiffs, such that Defendants, and all those acting in concert, are required to issue
permanently to each married Plaintiff a death certificate that records his or her marital
status as “married” or “widowed” and lists the same-sex “surviving spouse” by name,
and Defendants, and those persons in active concert or participation with Defendants who
receive actual notice of this Order, are prohibited from initiating any criminal prosecution
or administrative discipline against Plaintiff Grunn for recording same-sex marriages and
same-sex surviving spouses on the death certificates he completes.
Defendant Dr. Theodore E. Wymyslo is further ORDERED to make a best faith
effort to communicate Notice of this Court’s Final Orders (Docs. 56 & 57) to all persons
within Ohio who assist with completing Ohio death certificates, and Dr. Wymyslo shall
evidence such compliance by filing with this Court an Affidavit by 3/31/14.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Date: 12/23/13
/s/ Timothy S. Black
Timothy S. Black
United States District Judge
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