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Delaware Department of Justice
Attorney General
Kathy Jennings


Attorney General's Opinions




21 – IB13 06/23/2021 FOIA Opinion Letter to Amanda Fries re: FOIA Complaint Concerning Delaware Department of Health and Social Services

Date Posted: Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021

Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Health and Human Services violated FOIA by failing to identify the specific records it withheld and by giving excessive cost and time estimates.

DECIDED: No FOIA violation found.

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21 – IB12 05/18/2021 FOIA Opinion Letter to Kenneth T. Kristl re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Agriculture

Date Posted: Tuesday, May 18th, 2021

Petitioner alleged that his client’s requests for records submitted to the Delaware Department of Agriculture were improperly denied. The Department asserted that the records were exempt by statute, pursuant to 29 Del. C. 10002(l)(6) and 3 Del. C. 2247.

DECIDED: The Department did not meet its burden to justify its denial of access to the requested records.

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21 – IB11 05/12/2021 FOIA Opinion Letter to Jason M. Schupp re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Insurance

Date Posted: Wednesday, May 12th, 2021

Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Insurance improperly denied his request on the basis of his status as a non-citizen and on the basis of other statutory provisions applicable to the Department.

DECIDED: No violation of FOIA occurred as alleged in the petition.

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21 – IB10 05/04/2021 FOIA Opinion Letter to Millard E. Price re: FOIA Complaint Concerning Delaware Department of Corrections

Date Posted: Tuesday, May 4th, 2021

Petitioner alleged that the DOC improperly denied his request for the DOC policies and other records.

DECIDED: No FOIA violation occurred, as 29 Del. C. 10002(l)(13) exempts any records in the DOC’s possession which are sought by an inmate in DOC’s custody.

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21 – IB09 04/22/2021 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mackenzie H. Wrobel re: FOIA Complaint Concerning Delaware Department of Insurance

Date Posted: Thursday, April 22nd, 2021

Petitioner alleged that the Department of Insurance improperly cited exemptions in response to its request for certain records.

DECIDED: The Department did not violate FOIA in denying the items in the request on the basis of the pending or potential litigation exemption, the statutory exemption for examination work papers, and the investigatory files exemption.

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21 – IB08 04/21/2021 FOIA Opinion Letter to Ameera Shaheed re: FOIA Complaint Concerning City of Wilmington

Date Posted: Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington failed to respond to a request for records.

DECIDED: No FOIA violation occurred, as the City provided evidence of its timely response to the request.

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21-IB07 3/24/21 FOIA Opinion Letter to Kathy Hughes re: FOIA Complaint Concerning Delaware State Police

Date Posted: Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

Petitioner alleged that the Delaware State Police (“DSP”) improperly denied her request for a criminal complaint.
DECIDED: The DSP did not violate FOIA, as the investigatory files exemption applies to the criminal complaint.

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21-IB06 3/8/21 FOIA Opinion Letter to Xerxes Wilson re: FOIA Complaint Concerning City of Wilmington

Date Posted: Friday, March 12th, 2021

Petitioner alleged that that the City of Wilmington improperly denied his request for investigatory records related to a fire in Wilmington. The cause of the fire was not determined, and the investigation was marked undetermined/closed. The investigator reserved the ability to modify the investigative conclusion if new evidence was discovered.
DECIDED: The City did not violate FOIA by denying access to these records, as the City verified the records pertain to investigatory files for criminal law enforcement and this exemption applies even after the investigation is closed.

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21-IB05 3/5/21 FOIA Opinion Letter to Jordan Howell re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Department of State

Date Posted: Friday, March 5th, 2021

Petitioner alleged that the Department of State violated FOIA by failing to provide certain records responsive to his request for conference materials.
DECIDED: As the Department verified that the specific records requested do not exist, no FOIA violation was found.

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21-IB04 3/1/2021 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Craig O’Donnell re: FOIA Complaint Concerning Delaware City

Date Posted: Monday, March 1st, 2021

Petitioner alleged that Delaware City violated FOIA by improperly responding to FOIA requests for its community center financial records, its FOIA log, and request for a lease agreement, including the following: 1) ) whether the responses from the City to Petitioner’s Community Center requests were timely and responsive in terms of its level of detail; 2) whether the City violated FOIA by failing to maintain its FOIA log and by erroneously marking the Community Center requests on the log as closed; 3) whether the City’s response to Petitioner’s request for an agreement was untimely, incomplete, and improperly designated as complete on the FOIA log; 4) whether the City’s request to fill out a certain form violated FOIA; and 5) whether certain aspects of the City’s FOIA website were improper, including the FOIA Coordinator information, the availability of multiple request forms, and the .pdf form not being a “fillable” document.

DECIDED: No FOIA violation was found, but the City was reminded to properly maintain its FOIA log, to accept FOIA requests as provided by the FOIA statute, and to timely update its FOIA Coordinator information.

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