Service Charge for Records May Include Salary Plus Benefits

In this case from the Second DCA, the court examined the legislative history of the provisions of Ch. 119 that authorize agencies to charge for "extensive" clerical or supervisory time required to respond to public records requests and decided that such a charge may be based upon the salary plus benefits of the agency employees whose time is required to respond to such requests.


The court also expressly approved the practice of requiring an advance deposit before the agency undertakes the work necessary to respond to a records request.


The opinion tacitly approves of an agency rule or policy that defines "extensive" for these purposes as any request requiring more than 15 minutes of the agency's time to respond to it and also clarifies and confirms that the service charge applies irrespective of whether the request is for copies of records or merely for inspection.

When is a "Notice of Claim" not a Part of a "Claims File"?

Why, when the Attorney General doesn't want to have to say that the notice of claim is exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Law.

In AGO 2007-47, the Attorney General considered a seemingly simple question: Is the notice of claim required under Fla. Sta. §768.28 as a condition precedent to a tort suit against an agency exempt from disclosure under Fla. Stat. §768.16, which exempts "claims files" from the Public Records Law?

Anybody who sues or defends agencies in Florida is familiar with the notice of claim required under the waiver of sovereign immunity statute. Presumably, such a notice of claim upon receipt by an agency prompts the creation of a file related to the claim . . . commonly referred to as a "claims file." The first logical piece of paper that goes into the claims file is, of course, the notice of claim.

For some reason, the Attorney General struggled with the notion that "claims file" must necessarily include the things in the claims file . . . like the notice of claim. You really have to read this one for yourself.

Property Owners Association Exercising Delegated Authority

In AGO 2007-44, the Attorney General explained that a property owners association was subject to operation under the Sunshine Law when it was performing duties delegated to it by a Municipal Services Taxing Unit.

Elected Officials Exchanging Documents . . .

is no problem, according to the Attorney General, as long as they don't comment on or respond to the documents sent to them by other members of the same board. See AGO 2007-35.

1st Carnival of Open Records is Up and Running

For a collection of the best public records and sunshine posts from around the blogosphere, see the 1st Edition of the Carnival of Open Records.

Litigation Exemptions in the Legislative Claims Bill Process

In Wagner v. Orange County, the Fifth DCA considered the statutory exemptions for attorney-client records and risk management claims files in the context of a legislative claims bill. The court's extensive discussion of the nature of the claims bill process is worth the read.

Workers Compensation Cases - Statutory Exemptions

In this recent decision, the First DCA addressed the public records exemptions in Fla. Stat. ss. 443.171(5) and 443.1715(1) and affirmed the trial court's denial of a writ of mandamus requiring the production of notices of workers compensation hearings in the absence of proper redaction of identifying information.

State of Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation v. Mitchell S. Ritchie, P.A., 951 So.2d 111 (Fla. 1 DCA 2007).

Hospital Strategic Plans

In AGO 2007-28, the Attorney General discussed sunshine and public records issues regarding the strategic plans of leased public hospitals. Much recent sunshine and public records law litigation, including some in which I've participated, has involved public hospitals leased to private organizations under the provisions of Fla. Stat. s. 155.40, and the issue is worthy of a more comprehensive post, which I'll endeavor to bang out sometime soon. For now, this AGO has a pretty good discussion of some of the issues that typically arise.

Attorney-Client "Shade" Meetings

In AGO 2007-31, the Attorney General opined that a closed attorney-client meeting permitted under Fla. Stat. s. 286.011(8), sometimes referred to as a "shade" meeting, could properly be called if the agency attorney requests the closed session at any properly noticed meeting of the board, irrespective of whether it is a regular meeting or a special meeting. That's certainly a reasonable interpretation of the statute, which doesn't specify at which type of meeting such a closed session may be requested. It also kind of makes you wonder about what's really behind the request for this opinion from the AG.

Manatee County Goes Live With E-Access to Court Records

Also from the current issue of The Florida Bar News, word that Manatee County Clerk of the Court has gone live with a new pilot program for electronic access to court records. Read the article here.

Classic Commercial Use of the Public Records Law

As reported here in the current issue of The Florida Bar News, internet company Avvo.com has announced that is has obtained the disciplinary records of all Florida attorneys through a public records request and will be adding that information to its lawyer rating site in the near future.

The article presents a fairly balanced discussion of the issue and there are points to be made on both sides of the question. Irrespective of how one may feel about this, it's further evidence that information has become a mere commodity -- and that many of the more "noble" arguments advanced on behalf of open government laws may have little to do with much of the very commercial nature of the modern information age.

Local Health Councils Subject to Sunshine Law?

In AGO 2007-27, the Attorney General opined that local health councils authorized by Fla. Stat. §408.033 are subject to the Sunshine Law.

Journalist Suggests Public Records May Be "Too Public"; In Other News, Pigs Fly

In this interesting article by Jason Fry of the Wall Street Journal Online, which surely amounts to some form of media heresy, Fry actually suggests that some forms of modern technology that provide immediate and virtually unlimited access to "public" records could, well, be a bad thing.

Wow . . . did a journalist just suggest that public records can actually be "too public"?`

Public Tongue Lashing for Jax City Council

As reported here, the Jacksonville City Council received a well-deserved and highly public scolding from State Attorney Harry Shorstein last week. The mess in Jacksonville has yet to be cleaned up and is likely to get worse before it gets any better.

Jacksonville City Council Under Investigation . . .

for flagrant and ongoing violation of the Sunshine Law on a regular basis. For details, see the Times Union's coverage here, here, here, here and here.

A grand jury is currently considering the matter. Early prediction: indictments forthcoming.

Governor Appoints Commission of Foxes to Guard Hen House

Well, officially it's the Governor's Commission on Open Government, but given the makeup of the Commission you could probably predict with reasonable accuracy the substance of the recommendations that are likely to issue from this group.

Here's Executive Order 07-107 creating the Commission. Here's the Commission's membership and meeting schedule.

And some selected -- and predictable -- media reaction can be found here, here and here.

I'll of course be following the activities of the Commission and posting as developments warrant.

Chapter 2007-39, Laws of Florida, Amending Chapter 119

Here's Ch. 2007-39, Laws of Florida, as enacted in the last legislative session. Records custodians, take note.

Kudos to the Legislature - Your Open Records Laws at Work

If you've spent any time here, you know that I won't hesitate to criticize actions or decisions that continue to extend the open government laws beyond the government. But at heart, I'm all in favor of just about all routine GOVERNMENT records being available -- and easily and cheaply available -- to us, the governed.

So here's kudos to the Florida Legislature (don't get the opportunity to say that much) for having lots of important documents pertaining to the ongoing tax reform debate and special session available for easy access on its website. Access the tax reform documents here.

Many Thanks . . .

to Tampa attorney Matt Conigliaro, the grandaddy of legal bloggers around here, for this very kind mention in his outstanding blog, Abstract Appeal.

Back in Blog and Hoping to Catch Up . . .

Well, just settled a case that was set for trial in St. Petersburg next week. Better to get it done on the Friday before a long holiday weekend than on the Tuesday after. I'll be working hard to catch up on other things. Like other cases. And the blog.

Stay tuned . . .