26-IB13 03/26/2026 FOIA Opinion Letter to Maggie Reynolds re: City of Dover
Petitioner alleged that the City of Dover violated FOIA when the City provided a supplemental response to a request for City records, as recommended by Attorney General Opinion No. 25-IB59. The petition alleged three claims: (1) the attorney-client privilege was applied in an overly broad manner; (2) the City improperly applied the personnel file exemption to several records; and (3) the City improperly failed to include an affidavit with the privilege log explaining why the records were excluded.
DECIDED: The City did not violate FOIA by withholding records under the attorney-client privilege and personnel file exemption, nor by failing to produce an affidavit with the supplemental records production.
Read More26-IB12 03/24/2026 FOIA Opinion Letter to Steven Coleman re: New Castle County
Petitioner alleged that New Castle County violated FOIA in responding to the multi-part request by improperly applying the investigatory files exemption and failing to release segregable nonexempt records, including an October 8, 2025 administrative hearing recording, hearing minutes and summaries, officer assignment and reassignment logs, and warrant-related records.
DECIDED: The County did not violate FOIA with respect to the four items as alleged in the Petition. The claim related to the first item of the request, the hearing recording, is moot. The County also met its burden of demonstrating it provided the records responsive to the second and third items after an adequate search and properly withheld the records sought in the fourth item pursuant to the investigatory files exemption.
Read More26-IB11 03/10/2026 FOIA Opinion Letter to Shane Darby re: Delaware Department of Correction
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Correction violated FOIA by failing to provide a projected completion date or timeframe for fulfilling the request and by conditioning the release of records on prepayment for record retrieval services.
DECIDED: The Department violated FOIA by failing to comply with the statute’s requirements for asserting the need for additional time for this request. However, the Department did not violate FOIA by stating that prepayment of a cost estimate would be required.
