Request By:
Mr. L. Rogers Wells, Jr., Secretary
Finance and Administration Cabinet
301 Capitol Annex
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Grant Winston, Assistant Attorney General
Hon. Jon L. Fleischaker, an attorney representing "The Courier-Journal," by letter of 30 November 1989, has appealed your denial of his client's request for access to certain records in the custody of the Finance and Administration Cabinet.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Ms. Susan J. Craighead, Staff Writer with the Louisville "Courier-Journal" (C-J) Newspaper, by letter of 15 November 1989, and pursuant to Kentucky's Open Records Law (KRS 61.870 et seq .) requested the Finance and Administration Cabinet (Cabinet) to produce:
. . . copies of all records showing payments during calendar years 1988 and 1989 to guardians ad litem who served in juvenile court cases arising from Jefferson District Court. These records should include the names of the guardians ad litem, the amounts paid them, the dates on which payments were made and the name of the judge authorizing each payment. In addition, I seek copies of all court orders authorizing such payments.
The Cabinet, in its 16 November 1989 letter of denial, and the C-J in its appeal, state that Craighead's request was for all records "showing payments during calendar years 1988 and 1989 to guardians ad litem who served in juvenile court cases arising from Jefferson District Court," although Craighead's request was much more detailed than that.
The Cabinet denied the C-J's request in full, relying upon KRS 61.878(1)(j) and KRS 610.340(1). The first statute exempts from public inspections:
Public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by enactment of the General Assembly.
KRS 610.340(1), a section of the Unified Juvenile Code, states in part:
Unless a specific provision of KRS Chapters 600 to 645 specifies otherwise, all juvenile court records of any nature generated pursuant to KRS Chapters 600 to 645 by an agency or instrumentality, public or private, shall be deemed to be confidential and shall not be disclosed except to the child or parent unless ordered by the court for good cause.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Cabinet records of a disbursement to an individual for discharging the duty of guardian adlitem in juvenile court are not juvenile court records as envisioned by KRS 610.340(1). Rather, they are public records of a public expenditure made by a public agency to a person in consideration of a public service which was performed under the auspices of the juvenile court.
The confidentiality provision which is KRS 610.340(1) exists to protect the juveniles. See : F.T.P. v. Courier-Journal and Louisville Times Company, Ky., 774 S.W.2d 444 at 446 (1989). Here, most of the requested records, on their face, would not compromise any confidentiality extended to the juvenile. That guardians adlitem are entitled to a reasonable fee to be taxed as costs is widely known as a provision of law. KRS 453.060(2); CR 17.03(5). while a specific juvenile court's orders appointing specific attorneys as specific juveniles' guardians adlitem and orders authorizing their payment in specific cases are confidential juvenile court records and as such are excluded from public view, a public agency's records that a specific attorney was paid a sum certain out of public funds for his or her service in a specific court as a guardian adlitem are not. If the agency's records include the names of the juveniles involved, making release of such information an invasion of the juveniles' privacy, those names may be removed from the records before allowing access to the records. See KRS 61.878(1)(a) and 61.878(4).
Therefore, the requested records, with the exception of "all court orders authorizing such payments," are not excluded from public inspection by force of KRS 61.878(1)(j) and KRS 610.340(1). Any names of juveniles in these records may be removed from the records before access to the records is allowed, pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(a) and 61.878(4).
As required by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to Mr. Jon L. Fleischaker, attorney for the C-J, who requested it. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(5), either or both of the parties may appeal this opinion to the appropriate circuit court.