Kentucky

Open Records Requests and Disclosure to Parties in Litigation

By Michael Stevens

The following SCOKY decision addressed open records requests by parties involved in litigation:

Department of Revenue, Finance and Administration Cabinet, Commonwealth of Kentucky, et al. v. Mitzi D. Wyrick

2008-SC-000468-DG October 21, 2010 2009-SC-000543-DG October 21, 2010

Opinion of the Court by Justice Schroder.  All sitting; all concur.  The Supreme Court interpreted the ?civil litigation limitation? to the Open Records Law, found in KRS 61.878(1).  The Court held that a request for open records should be evaluated independently of whether the requester is a party or potential party to litigation.  The civil litigation limitation applies only to documents otherwise excluded from disclosure by KRS 61.878(1)(a)-(n).  It is not an exception to an agency?s duty to disclose nonexempted records.  A court of competent jurisdiction, upon request, may grant disclosure of documents excluded from disclosure under KRS 61.878(1)(a)-(n) with one qualification:  if the document pertains to civil litigation, the court cannot order disclosure beyond that which is provided by the Rules of Civil Procedure governing pretrial discovery.

Full post as published by Kentucky Cases on January 24, 2011 (boomark / email).