Date Posted: Monday, November 22nd, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the Christina School District failed to timely respond to its request for records.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found, as the District attempted to respond to the request within the requisite timeframe but made an inadvertent mistake in addressing the email to the petitioner. When notified, the District provided a copy of the misdirected response.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, November 17th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Elections improperly denied access to certain voting records and voting equipment.
DECIDED: The Office determined that the Department properly denied access to the physical equipment as equipment is not a public record subject to FOIA and the requested voting records were exempt from disclosure pursuant to 29 Del. C. 10006(o)(6).
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Date Posted: Thursday, November 4th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington improperly denied its request for records of the City’s towing contractors.
DECIDED: The City did not violate FOIA by refusing to provide records that pertain to pending litigation.
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Date Posted: Monday, October 25th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Transportation (“DelDOT”) violated FOIA by denying a records request.
DECIDED: This petition was dismissed without consideration of the merits, because the FOIA request at issue did not indicate it was made by or on behalf of the organization submitting the petition. Under FOIA, the party denied access to the requested records is the sole party with standing to challenge a public body’s denial of access to records.
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Date Posted: Monday, October 25th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the Office of the Auditor of Accounts (“AOA”) violated FOIA by failing to keep accurate FOIA logs and also requesting the validity of AOA’s assertion that it could not locate its FOIA log for 2018.
DECIDED: AOA, for a period of more than three years, failed to maintain its FOIA logs in accordance with 29 Del. C. § 10003(g)(3), and the balance of the petition is moot.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 20th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the Diamond State Port Corporation (“DSPC”) violated FOIA by refusing to produce emails related to a draft Amendment because the draft Amendment had been presented to a public body.
DECIDED: This Office determined that DSPC may apply the draft document exception in these circumstances but recommended the DSPC undertake a review of its records and supplement its response as necessary.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 20th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (“DHSS”) violated FOIA by refusing to provide requested data reports.
DECIDED: DHSS did not violate FOIA by declining to create new records.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 6th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that the Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly (“Committee”) violated FOIA by failing to follow open meeting requirements in setting a meeting agenda.
DECIDED: As Section 10004(h)(7) expressly excludes the proceedings of ethics committees of the General Assembly from the requirements of Section 10004, we find that the Committee has not violated FOIA by failing to meet the open meeting requirements.
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Date Posted: Monday, October 4th, 2021
Petitioner alleged that New Castle County’s delay in responding to her FOIA request was unreasonable and not justified as of the date of the petition.
DECIDED: No FOIA violation occurred, as there is no indication that the County’s invocation of the need for additional time for the stated reasons was improper nor is there any evidence of the County’s bad faith in estimating its timeframes for completion.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, September 29th, 2021
Petitioner alleged the Department of State improperly assessed charges for legal review of requested documents and failed to comply with its statutory obligations to make every effort to ensure that the administrative fees are minimized and to sufficiently itemize its cost estimate.
DECIDED: The Department violated FOIA by failing to meet its burden to demonstrate that it minimized the use of nonadministrative personnel to the extent possible in responding to this request.
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