Annotations for Statute

When it was determined that a city erroneously denied a newspaper’s request for a police department’s entire file in a murder case, it was not an abuse of discretion to deny the newspaper’s request for fees and costs because, inter alia, the city had a plausible, if erroneous, justification for denying the newspaper’s request. City of Fort Thomas v. Cincinnati Enquirer, 406 S.W.3d 842, 2013 Ky. LEXIS 375 (Ky. 2013).

When it was determined that a city erroneously denied a newspaper’s request for a police department’s entire file in a murder case, it was not an abuse of discretion to deny the newspaper’s request for fees and costs, even when a prosecutor had previously disclosed part of the file to a television station, because (1) the city was not required to research whether another agency had previously disclosed part of the file, (2) the part disclosed was a very small part of the records requested, (3) the newspaper did not specify this part of the file, and (4) this part of the file was disclosed before the Attorney General opined that disclosure was required. City of Fort Thomas v. Cincinnati Enquirer, 406 S.W.3d 842, 2013 Ky. LEXIS 375 (Ky. 2013).

Where a school district employee settled her lawsuit against one school district for sexual harassment by a district official and a second lawsuit against another district for allegedly wrongfully failing to hire her, the lower courts erred in denying a newspaper’s request for access to the settlement agreements under the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to 61.884, because the settlement of litigation between a government agency and one of its employees and a private citizen and a governmental entity were matters of legitimate public concern that the public is entitled to scrutinize. A confidentiality clause in such agreements was not entitled to protection. Cent. Ky. News-Journal v. George, 306 S.W.3d 41, 2010 Ky. LEXIS 72 (Ky. 2010).

Where a senator sought attorney billing statements prepared by nongovernmental lawyers retained by a Governor’s administration in connection with an investigation of its hiring practices, it was error to award attorney fees to the senator. Because the attorney-client privilege was favored to be a valid exception to at least a portion of the records, and because the trial court’s solution of allowing documents the administration believed to be privileged to be reviewed in camera  appeared to be novel, it could not be said that the administration willfully withheld records. Commonwealth v. Scorsone, 2008 Ky. App. LEXIS 18 (Ky. Ct. App. Jan. 18, 2008), op. withdrawn, sub. op., 251 S.W.3d 328, 2008 Ky. App. LEXIS 40 (Ky. Ct. App. 2008).

Where a teacher’s open records request to view videotape recordings of her own classroom was denied on grounds this would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 USCS § 1232g, and the Kentucky Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (KFERPA), KRS 160.700 et seq., the Circuit Court properly denied her request to view the tapes in camera since this would have rendered the entire controversy void. Medley v. Bd. of Educ., 168 S.W.3d 398, 2004 Ky. App. LEXIS 305 (Ky. Ct. App. 2004).

Where city acted under authority of law in withholding requested police department files rather than having done so in willful violation of the law, assessment of costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees in favor of appellees under subsection (5) of the section necessarily failed. Louisville v. Courier-Journal & Louisville Times Co., 637 S.W.2d 658, 1982 Ky. App. LEXIS 232 (Ky. Ct. App. 1982).

Where county attorney did not attempt to establish that disclosure of records relating to child support payments requested by attorney representing father of minor child would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and where county attorney did not reference relevant state or federal law barring disclosure or explain its application to the disputed records, county attorney’s response failed to conform to KRS 61.880(2)(c) and subsection (3) of this section. Edmondson v. Alig, 926 S.W.2d 856, 1996 Ky. App. LEXIS 124 (Ky. Ct. App. 1996).

Where  the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) erred in denying an open records request regarding a complaint made by an LRC staffer against a representative, attorneys fees under statute were properly awarded. Hartz v. McClatchy Co., LLC, 643 S.W.3d 286, 2022 Ky. App. LEXIS 10 (Ky. Ct. App. 2022).

Whether the assessment of penalties will have any coercive effect is not a proper consideration under KRS 61.882(5); rather, the only basis upon which penalties may be awarded is a finding that the officials’  noncompliance with the Kentucky Open Records Act was willful. Even though the trial court erred by making this improper consideration, a reversal was not warranted because an inmate requesting certain records waived the right to contest the error where he did not raise the issue of willfulness. Eplion v. Burchett, 354 S.W.3d 598, 2011 Ky. App. LEXIS 215 (Ky. Ct. App. 2011).