301 results for 'cat:"Public Record"'.
J. Chen finds in partial favor of the news representative on his FOIA complaint alleging that the Department of Justice did not fully comply with his records request for documents relating to firearms recovered south of the border by the ATF. The DOJ argues that he fails to prove that he is a news representative, but he has written an op-ed about the subject, has been quoted in other articles, and even made a documentary film, all of which more than qualify him as a news representative. The matter is remanded and stayed, however, to give the ATF a chance to answer some questions over its database access.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Chen, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv7663, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: public Record
J. Reyes affirms the district court's dismissal of the data requesters' action seeking data related to election procedures from a county director of property tax and elections. The director is a designee, not the responsible authority, for the relevant data under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, and therefore was not a proper defendant for this case. The district court also did not err in dismissing the case without joining the responsible authority as a defendant, nor in dismissing the requesters' request for a declaratory judgment as to whether the county's procedures complied with the Act. It also did not err in determining that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over a count seeking a prohibition of the use of modems in voting machines, since the requesters did not comply with relevant service requirements. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Reyes, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: A23-0302, Categories: Elections, Government, public Record
J. Rios upholds the trial court's refusal to grant summary judgment to a school district on two former school board members' action seeking injunctive relief related to documents they claim the district refuses to release. Contrary to the district's argument, the trial court had jurisdiction to hear the case, and there are questions of fact whether all relevant records were released. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Rios, Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 04-22-00178-CV , Categories: Education, public Record
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J. Furman finds the newspaper is entitled to an audio copy of the Aurora city council's executive session because the public received insufficient notice about the meeting, which also included an official action in the form of a roll call vote to censure a member for comments made on a public radio station. Although the city discussed legal advice with its attorneys during the session, it waived attorney-client privilege when it attempted to correct the open meetings violations at the next council meeting and produced an agenda from the executive session. Reversed.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Furman, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 2023COA118, Categories: Government, public Record, Privilege
[Consolidated.] J. Ceresia finds that the lower court properly dismissed public record claims related to hospital treatment received by Covid-19 patients and statistics on hospital deaths, both generally and tied to Covid-19, as requested by a media company that produces health care content geared to doctors and policymakers. The records access officer for the health department certified that the documents did not exist or could not be found despite a diligent search. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Ceresia, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 536110, Categories: Civil Procedure, public Record, Covid-19
J. Gabriel finds the lower court termination of its jurisdiction over the child welfare case for the county's failure to prosecute precluded it from ruling on the ombudsman's request for production of an unredacted agency report; therefore, the court improperly disclosed the document, especially considering it dealt mainly with accusations of favoritism within the county's board of commissioners and was not relevant to the child welfare case. The ombudsman's request was entirely outside the scope of previous filings in the case and, therefore, did not deal with the court's continuing jurisdiction over already settled matters, which requires the ombudsman to destroy all copies of the report.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Gabriel, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 2023CO60, Categories: Family Law, public Record, Jurisdiction
J. Couriel finds that the trial court properly denied the police benevolent association a preliminary injunction to prevent the release of names of officers involved in two separate fatal shootings. Marsy's Law, which was created to protect victims, does not guarantee victims the "categorical right to withhold his or her name from disclosure." Affirmed.
Court: Florida Supreme Court, Judge: Couriel, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: SC2021-0651, Categories: Civil Rights, public Record, Privacy
J. Cunningham finds that the appeals court improperly ordered the Illinois State Police to comply with the firearm owners' Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the revocation of their Firearm Owner Identification Cards. An individual's application for a FOID card and subsequent revocation letter are not properly characterized as "public records." However, the firearm owners may obtain the information they seek through the Firearms Services Bureau. Reversed.
Court: Illinois Supreme Court, Judge: Cunningham, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: 128275, Categories: Administrative Law, public Record, Firearms
J. Neville finds that the appeals court improperly reversed the circuit court, which dismissed a complaint against a law firm alleging it violated the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act by issuing a press release describing its client's suicide attempt and resulting injuries after winning a $4.2 million judgment. The Act does not protect confidential information that was voluntarily revealed in a public trial. Reversed.
Court: Illinois Supreme Court, Judge: Neville, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: 129097, Categories: Health Care, public Record, Privacy
J. Boasberg denies remaining press application for access to judicial records arising from the government’s investigation into election interference and its search warrant for Twitter records associated with Donald Trump’s account. Further disclosure is not warranted, and the government has shown the extensive redaction necessary to protect its investigation renders the records "of little meaning or value to the public."
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: 1:23mc84, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: public Record
J. Mazzant grants-in-part the requestor's motion for clarification of a prior memorandum opinion and order in a Freedom of Information Act case involving information relating to Seth Rich. The federal government is ordered to produce a Vaughn index addressing the responsive information regarding Rich's work laptop, DVD, tape drive and a compact disk having images of Rich's personal laptop.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Texas , Judge: Mazzant, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 4:20cv447, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Procedure, public Record, Agency
J. Ceresia finds that the lower court improperly dismissed portions of defendant's request for documents withheld or redacted in a Freedom of Information Law filing stemming from the denial of executive clemency on his murder conviction. Information that would have invaded personal privacy or endangered an individual should have been withheld, and defendant should have been awarded litigation costs, since he substantially prevailed in the proceeding. Reversed in part.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Ceresia, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: CV-22-2357, Categories: public Record, Privacy, Attorney Fees
Per curiam, the Supreme Court of Ohio grants the inmate's petition for a writ of mandamus to compel production of a prison kite sent to the prison cashier because the kite is a public record under Ohio law following this court's ruling in Mobley v. Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction. However, because the Mobley opinion had not been issued at the time the inmate made his initial request, the department's refusal was made in good faith and the inmate is not entitled to statutory damages.
Court: Ohio Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4183, Categories: public Record, Damages
[Modified.][Consolidated.] J. Greenwood makes two small modifications with no change in judgment. The trial court erroneously found that a city's response to public records requests by a legal advocacy group violated the Public Records Act. The group's claim is moot because the city has produced all responsive nonexempt footage of a police operation to clear homeless encampments from water district property. However, the trial court properly rejected the group's claim that the city violated the Act by destroying body-worn camera footage while the group's public records requests were pending, as the Act does not require public agencies to retain all records that might be requested. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Greenwood, Filed On: November 20, 2023, Case #: H049552, Categories: public Record
J. Hollander denies a community justice group’s motion to alter or amend the courts motion to dismiss judgment in favor of the Baltimore City Law Department, including the police department and several of its officers and other staff, its allegations of First Amendment violations for not releasing public records. The group argues the department has condoned or ratified an unconstitutional viewpoint of discrimination in failing to consider factual allegations. Therefore, they have failed in two respects to allege that there was a practice of disfavoring and any policymaker had actual knowledge of the exercised deliberate indifference for the wrongdoing.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Hollander, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1901, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: public Record, Police Misconduct
J. Page finds that the lower court improperly found for the city in a Sunshine Law dispute. The citizen sought data generated from vehicle stop forms for 2014 through 2018, but the city destroyed these reports after their review by the Attorney General. Nevertheless, the citizen is entitled to request this information, and the recreation of a report is distinguishable from the creation of a wholly new, custom report, which a public entity is not required to do in response to a public records request. Reversed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Page, Filed On: November 14, 2023, Case #: ED111496, Categories: public Record
J. Nashold finds the circuit court properly dismissed the advocacy group's petition for a writ of mandamus forcing the county register in probate to provide records the group claims would show a discrepancy between a list of ineligible voters maintained by the state elections commission and people considered incompetent to vote based on guardianship proceedings in the county. The group now concedes it is not entitled to most of the records it sought because court records related to incompetency proceedings are closed, but its argument that it is still entitled to notice of voter eligibility forms fails, as those forms are also clearly pertinent to incompetency proceedings. The group's argument of judicial bias based on the circuit court judge's comments about the group's "political" goals and reference to its petition as a "fishing expedition" also fails, in part because the group's selection of these quotes either omit the judge's full statements or important context in which they were made. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Judge: Nashold, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 2022AP001794, Categories: Elections, public Record
J. Lanza partly grants a Latino-based community non-for-profit organization's motion to compel the Republican Party of Arizona to produce documents it has withheld. The organization sufficiently showed in court that it is entitled to view the party's First Amendment privilege log, but not emailed documents concerning donations related auto-generated emails.
Court: USDC Arizona, Judge: Lanza, Filed On: November 8, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv1423, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Elections, public Record, Privilege
J. Salter vacates a portion of a ruling in favor of Rapid City Area School District 51-4 in which an organized citizens group, along with several individuals, commenced an action seeking a declaration that the district was acting contrary to South Dakota’s open meeting law by not allowing public comment at some of its board meetings. The panel vacates the portion of the court’s decision concerning public comment and affirms the decision to not review a state’s attorney’s determination concerning an alleged violation of a separate open meeting statute. Affirmed in part.
Court: South Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Salter , Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 2023SD57, Categories: Education, public Record
J. Harris finds the Colorado Open Records Act prohibits only the disclosure of identifying information related to minors and child abuse records and, therefore, the news outlets may be entitled to public records regarding child abuse reports made at certain residential care facilities. Therefore, the case will be remanded to allow the court to consider whether the requested information, including addresses of the care facilities, constitutes identifying information exempt from disclosure. Reversed.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 2023COA101, Categories: public Record, Juvenile Law