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 MorePetitioner 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 MorePetitioner 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.
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware State Police, Department of Safety and Homeland Security (“DSP”) improperly denied a request for certain traffic incident records.
DECIDED: Because these records are exempt from disclosure under the investigatory files exemption, the DSP did not violate FOIA by denying access to the requested records.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that Sussex County improperly denied the petitioner’s records request under the pending litigation exemption.
DECIDED: The County violated FOIA by failing to meet its burden to justify denying access to the full scope of records requested.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Lead-Based Paint Remediation Certification Committee held a hybrid virtual meeting in which the petitioner was disconnected while providing public comment. Petitioner sought determinations whether the Committee violated FOIA by: (1) prohibiting the petitioner’s ability to provide public comment; (2) resuming the hybrid public meeting in the anchor location after the petitioner’s disconnection; and (3) potentially preventing additional public comments after the petitioner’s comment.
DECIDED: As the factual allegations necessary to consider the FOIA claims were not presented under oath, it was determined that the Committee violated FOIA by failing to meet its burden to demonstrate its compliance with FOIA.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (“DIAA”) failed to perform an adequate search for records responsive to one item in the petitioner’s multi-part request.
DECIDED: As the search for responsive records and the search results were not described under oath with the requisite specificity, it was determined that DIAA violated FOIA by failing to meet its burden of proof to justify denying access to the requested records.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that New Castle County violated FOIA in failing to produce all responsive records to the petitioner’s request for records related to the subject property and related easement. The petition also alleges that the County violated FOIA by delivering its initial document production in a single, mixed-up file, instead of separate documents with specific descriptions.
DECIDED: The County did not violate FOIA as alleged in the petition.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware State Police improperly denied a FOIA request for body camera footage related to two cases.
DECIDED: As the investigatory files exemption applies to the requested footage, no violation of FOIA was found.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Education violated FOIA by charging unreasonable and improper fees to access records that are in the Department’s custody but held by an outside firm. The petition also alleges that conditioning access on full payment of the contractor fee in advance violates FOIA.
DECIDED: The Department did not violate FOIA by requiring payment of all estimated fees in advance. As some requested information is likely not subject to disclosure under Section 10002(o)(17), it is recommended that the Department review the potential scope of records to exclude those types of records subject to this exemption and provide a new cost estimate.
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