19-IB05 2/12/2019 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Christopher Coggins re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Petitioner alleged that 1) DNREC improperly withheld records, as he did not state a request for records; and 2) DNREC improperly withheld records which were confidential legal advice.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. FOIA does not require a public body to answer questions or compile information, and the requests for attorney client privileged and work product materials was appropriately denied.
19-IB04 2/11/2019 FOIA Opinion Letter to Ms. Jan Konesey and Mr. Sam Cooper re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Rehoboth Beach
The Petitioners alleged that a wastewater working group established by the City of Rehoboth was meeting privately and without public notice.
DECIDED: The working group is a public body subject to the open meetings provisions of FOIA and therefore violated FOIA. This Office recommended the group meet publicly in accordance with FOIA’s open meeting requirements going forward and make existing minutes (if any) of past meetings available to the public. If meetings minutes do not exist but the meeting was recorded, the City is recommended to recreate those minutes and make them publicly available.
19-IB03 2/11/2019 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Mustafa Musawwir re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Division of Corporations
The Petitioner alleged the Division of Corporation’s fees for certain business records violated FOIA by exceeding the fee scale outlined in FOIA.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. A separate statute establishes the fees for the requested records and specifically exempts them from FOIA’s fee provisions.
19-IB02 2/11/2019 FOIA Opinion Letter to Ms. Christina Jedra re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Wilmington
The Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington’s decision to use an outside vendor to perform the search and production of emails was unreasonable and that the fee estimate was unreasonably high.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found. The City presented affidavits supporting that the use of a vendor was reasonably required. Also, it was determined that the City adequately demonstrated that the outside vendor’s fee estimate did not violate FOIA.
19-IB01 1/23/2019 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Christopher Coggins re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
The petitioner requested records regarding a site which was the subject of an environmental enforcement action. DNREC denied the request pursuant to pending or potential litigation exemption, and the petitioner alleged that DNREC improperly withheld records under this exemption.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found, as the requested records related to the subject matter of pending litigation between the petitioner’s clients and DNREC.
18-IB54 12/5/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Johann Gaebler re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System
Petitioner alleged that DELJIS improperly withheld information from a database. DECIDED: As Petitioner is not a citizen of Delaware, DELJIS properly asserted in the denial that it was not required to fulfill the request.
Read More18-IB53 12/3/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Courtney French re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Wilmington
Petitioner alleged that several estimated charges for production of the requested records were unreasonable under FOIA. DECIDED: The City provided sufficient evidence that they had complied with FOIA’s requirements to support their final estimated fees.
Read More18-IB52 11/29/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Ms. Andrea Green re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Petitioner alleged that DNREC improperly denied records request for several reasons: 1) the denial was in violation of another Delaware statute; 2) DNREC provided insufficient justification for the denial; and 3) the exemptions for pending or potential litigation and investigatory records did not apply to the requested records. DECIDED: This Office does not have the authority under the FOIA statute to determine whether another statute was violated. DNREC provided sufficient justification for its denial. DNREC appropriately cited the pending litigation exemption because the individual requesting records is a member of the entity that is actively involved in a pending administrate appeal with DNREC.
Read More18-IB51 11/20/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to David Carter re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Petitioner alleged that DNREC improperly withheld database records and did not provide sufficient assistance in identifying and locating responsive records. DECIDED: DNREC is not required by FOIA to create a new record to provide the information sought and that DNREC sufficiently provided reasonable assistance to identify and locate the information sought.
Read More18-IB50 10/12/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Casey H. Nelson re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Department of Insurance
Petitioner alleged that he was entitled to receive Delaware Department of Insurance (“DOI”) records because DOI denied records in bad faith, was required to provide records to non-citizens of Delaware, and was required to provide the records pursuant to another Delaware statute. DECIDED: DOI did not violate FOIA as alleged.
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