[WEBINAR] Who Does What? Defining Proper Roles for Staff and Elected Officials
When it comes to managing FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and similar public records requests, resourcing your team effectively is crucial. Even with a small team, you can achieve a lot by appointing an expert internally...more
The Illinois Appellate Court recently ruled that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not obligate a public body to produce records that it does not already maintain in response to a FOIA request. Further, the Court...more
Nearly anyone who can read a newspaper understands the meaning of a FOIL or FOIA request. FOIA refers to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows a requester to obtain documents from federal agencies, while its...more
The Illinois Appellate Court recently issued a new decision regarding the FOIA. In Kraft v. Chicago Police Department, the Court ruled in favor of the police department, finding it properly exempted records as unduly...more
The PAC recently released its second binding opinion of 2022, which provides helpful analysis and guidance regarding the personal and pre-decisional exemptions under the FOIA. The PAC determined that the City of Chicago...more
Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision regarding the FOIA, upholding a public body’s redaction of traffic accident reports pursuant to Sections 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(c) of the FOIA....more
The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor recently issued a binding opinion holding that the Illinois Freedom of Information Act exemption for predecisional records does not apply to communications from a public...more
PRE-DECISIONAL & DELIBERATIVE PROCESS UPDATES U.S. - SUPREME COURT DECISION - On March 4, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in United States Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club addressing the “deliberative...more
As with most issues relating to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), expectations regarding the holding of public meetings have been evolving rapidly over the past few days. ...more
The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor was once again busy during 2019, issuing binding decisions of interest to public entities governed by the Illinois Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act....more
In a recent decision, the Illinois Appellate Court held that the nonexistence of requested documents is an affirmative defense to a complaint grounded in the Freedom of Information Act. The court also clarified that public...more
February was a busy month for decisions about the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA” or the “Act”). ...more
Since a 2013 Illinois Appellate Court decision, City of Champaign v. Madigan, Illinois public bodies have known that three categories of emails and text messages sent to or from personal technology devices are “public...more
During my recent time working at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, I worked with the Federal Freedom of Information Act, which does not contain an unduly burdensome exemption....more
In Better Government Association v. Illinois High School Association and High School District 230 IL Supreme Court No. 121124, the Illinois Supreme Court, on May 18, 2017, affirmed an appellate court's ruling that the...more
In three separate opinions rendered in November, the Public Access Counselor (PAC) of the Illinois Attorney General provided guidance regarding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on the definition of “unduly burdensome,”...more
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has issued a binding opinion under the state's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that email messages sent or received through public employees' personal email accounts may be public...more
A public body must respond to a FOIA request within five days, but the Michigan Court of Appeals has opined that there is no obligation to produce the requested information within that timeframe. In a June 23, 2016,...more
The due process review of a punitive damages award for excessiveness has a number of interconnected parts. A series of relatively small errors can quickly add up and dramatically skew the outcome of a review process that is...more
A recent ruling regarding South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act is one to note. It came on February 22 in DomainsNewMedia.com vs. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce....more
In a decision issued December 21, 2015 (Caldecott v. Superior Court of Orange County (Newport- Mesa Unified School District)), the California Court of Appeal ruled that a former school district employee is entitled to records...more
The federal Freedom of Information Act [“FOIA”] has recently made its way into national new stories for all the wrong reasons. Hillary Clinton has become enmeshed in a controversy involving her use of a “private” e-mail...more
Effective immediately, the General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto to approve new amendments to the FOIA, which are designed to reduce the burden on public bodies. Public Act 98-1129 provides the following: 1) a...more
Most public entities are now intimately familiar with the long reach of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) into the conduct of agency meetings. A recent case from the Freedom of Information Commission (“FOIC”) reminds...more
Investigations in the public sector confront the competing demands of employee privacy rights and the public’s “right to know” under the Freedom of Information Act [“FOIA”]. Another decision by the Freedom of Information...more