PR: Recent Cases (Class outline)

Question 1

State 4 parts to defining access of PRs.

Answer 1

NCAA (2010)

a) All material regardless of form
b) Made or received re: transaction of off business
c) By LG or Ktor “acting on behalf ”
d) Used to perpetuate, communicate, or formalize knowledge.

Question 2

Are jail visitor logs exempt?
Are phone logs exempt?

Answer 2

No - public.

Question 3

Are prisoner phone call recordings exempt?

Answer 3

Yes - exempt.
Reviewing the records for security is official business but keeping calls of juveniles awaiting trial w/ their parents was not.

Question 4

Are visitor logs that show what psychiatrist visited Def, possibly revealing his trial strategy/work product exempt?

Answer 4

No - public.
If legislature wants them exempt, it will have to provide an exemption.

Question 5

Are communications by Water District’s atty made during shade mtg, re: court ordered mediation exempt?

Answer 5

Yes, redact.

Question 6

State the surprising reason transcript of a shade meeting, re: atty statements are exempt.

Answer 6

It’s “mediation communication.”
Ch 44 (1) mediation communications are confidential, (2) mediation writings (except settlement agmt) are exempt from §119.

Question 7

Can a writ of mandamus be appropriate vehicle for redress of a public records violation?

Answer 7

Yes.

Question 8

When is a complaint initiating an investigation into public official’s mismanagement of funds exempt?

Answer 8

To qualify for exemption:
1) Received by a local official
2) Re; gross mismanagement, waste of public funds or neglect of duty, and
3) Investigation is active AT TIME REQUEST MADE.

Question 9

Are whistleblower complaints exempt?

Answer 9

Yes UNTIL investigation is no longer active.

Question 10

What must be included in Court order to get AF for PR violation?

Answer 10

Finding that LG unlawfully refused to provide access to public records.

Question 11

Does PL get AF if court finds the records requested were public?

Answer 11

No!
Order must say that LG unlawfully refused to provide access to PRs.

Question 12

Can exempt records change their status once disclosed to public?

Answer 12

No!
Audit reports are exempt until finalized.
Participant in audit disclosed draft audit.
County still cannot produce the records b/c they remain exempt.

Question 13

Is case management order sufficient for court to hold PR hearing?

Answer 13

No.
Case mgmt put parties on notice of scheduling, not the conduct of an evidentiary hearing.

Question 14

If computer system purges a PR request, is LG still deemed to have violated the PR laws? AF?

Answer 14

Yes + yes, AF b/c failed to ‘acknowledge’ the request.

Question 15

Must LG produce records in a specifically requested format?

Answer 15

Yes if maintained in that format.

Question 16

What does court require in order to make LG show cause?

Answer 16

A copy of the request.

Question 17

What must a complaint for a writ of mandamus contain?

Answer 17

SCOTT (2021)

(1) Facts on which the PL relies,
(2) Request for the relief sought; and
(3) If desired, argument in support of the complaint with citations of authority.

Question 18

How much must be attached to a complaint for writ of mandamus?

Answer 18

When a complaint seeks a writ directed to a lower court or to a governmental or administrative agency, a copy of as much of the record as is necessary to support the plaintiff’s complaint must be attached

Question 19

When can LG allow a Ktor access to confidential records (soc sec #s) for purposes of testing security?

Answer 19

Yes if:
Testing is for adminis of pension funds within the meaning of the social security number exemption in s. 119.071(5),
If so then:
Incidental disclosure Vendor w/ confid agmt = does not violate Ch. 119.

Question 20

How wd IT testing overall be viewed?

Answer 20

If there is a substantial policy need for disclosure, release of exempt info for purposes of cyber security wd not be inconsistent w/ the purpose of the exemption.

Question 21

Are private entity’s records exempt?

Answer 21

Yes, normally.
But not if reviewed & used in course of public agency’s business. [here, used by attys for FSU]
, public agency.
the documents at issue in this case were examined by lawyers for a public agency, Florida State University, and used in the course of the agency’s business.

Because . The NCAA has failed to show that an exception applies under state or federal law, and thus, the records must be disclosed.”

Question 22

What if records are maintained on a private website?

Answer 22

Regardless, the documents were received in connection with the transaction of official business by an agency, they are public records.