Delaware.gov logo

Delaware Department of Justice
Attorney General
Kathy Jennings


Attorney General's Opinions




22-IB29 08/23/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to John W. Paradee re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Transportation

Date Posted: Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022

Petitioner alleged that DelDOT improperly denied its request for records under the potential litigation exemption.

DECIDED: DelDOT has not met its burden of demonstrating that the potential litigation exemption applies to the entirety of this request.

Read More


22-IB28 08/23/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to Dan Shortridge re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Auditor of Accounts

Date Posted: Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Auditor of Accounts violated FOIA with regard to a records request and failed to meet the 15 business day statutory deadline.

DECIDED: The petition is now moot because the Delaware Auditor of Accounts provided an affidavit response to the request.

Read More


22-IB27 08/19/22 FOIA Opinion Letter to John Reiss re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Town of Blades

Date Posted: Friday, August 19th, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the Town violated FOIA by considering and voting on certain items at the meeting without proper notice on the agenda.

DECIDED: The Town violated the open meeting requirements by failing to justify its decision to discuss employee bonuses and raises in private and by failing to provide any notice on the June 13, 2022 meeting agenda of employee bonuses, employee raises, or the water line extension project discussed and voted on at its Council meeting.

Read More


22-IB26 08/12/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to Erin Markham re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Wilmington

Date Posted: Friday, August 12th, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the spreadsheet produced in response to her FOIA request was incomplete and she could not reasonably be expected to interpret the data.

DECIDED: No FOIA violation occurred. FOIA does not require a public body to create a new record or to interpret any provided data in response to a request.

Read More


22-IB25 07/20/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to Janice Lorrah re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee

Date Posted: Wednesday, July 20th, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the Senate Elections and Government Affairs Committee violated FOIA by holding a virtual meeting without an anchor location, voting outside the meeting, and removing her from the latter portion of this virtual meeting.

DECIDED: The majority of the Petition’s allegations are not appropriate for resolution. However, the Committee did not violate FOIA by holding a virtual meeting without an anchor location.

Read More


22-IB24 07/11/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to Jared T. Green re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Delaware Department of Transportation

Date Posted: Monday, July 11th, 2022

Petitioner alleged that DelDOT improperly denied his request under the pending or potential litigation exemption.

DECIDED: No FOIA violation occurred as alleged.

Read More


22-IB23 07/07/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to John Reiss re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Town of Blades

Date Posted: Thursday, July 7th, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the Town of Blades violated FOIA by improperly charging fees related to his request and by failing to timely post a meeting notice and agenda on its website.

DECIDED: The Town violated FOIA with respect to its charges for the request, but the Town did not violate FOIA by posting its Town Council meeting notice and agenda on its website three days before the meeting.

Read More


22-IB22 06/03/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to Councilmember Linda Gray re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Wilmington

Date Posted: Friday, June 3rd, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the Wilmington City Council held private meetings in violation of FOIA.

DECIDED: The petition has not formed a sufficient basis to determine whether City Council privately met in violation of FOIA.

Read More


22-IB21 05/27/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to Amanda Fries re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Wilmington

Date Posted: Friday, May 27th, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington’s cost estimate over-charged the hourly administrative fees, failed to waive all fees, and improperly delayed its cost estimate.

DECIDED: This Office found no basis to conclude that the City violated FOIA as alleged in the Petition.

Read More


22-IB20 05/18/2022 FOIA Opinion Letter to John D. Morgan, III re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Newark

Date Posted: Tuesday, May 17th, 2022

Petitioner alleged that the City of Newark violated FOIA by failing to timely respond to his request for application materials for proposed appointees to the City’s boards and commissions and by inappropriately redacting the application materials produced. The petition also alleged that the City’s new practice of allowing the nominating councilmember sole access to the appointees’ qualifications to vet the appointees to the City’s boards and commissions violates FOIA.

DECIDED: The City violated FOIA by failing to meet its burden of proof to justify its denial of access to the redacted information. No violations of FOIA were found regarding the remaining two issues.

Read More





+