Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that the Jefferson Circuit Court Clerk is not bound by the provisions of the Kentucky Open Records Act, and therefore cannot be said to have violated the Act by failing to respond to Harry M. Soward's November 17, 1998, request for a copy of records contained in case file 86-CR-1261. We believe that 98-ORD-6, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is controlling. Although not specifically required to do so under the Open Records Act, the clerk has agreed to furnish Mr. Sowards with the requested records at the conclusion of an office relocation which is currently under way.
The Attorney General's responsibility in matters of records access is confined to a review under KRS 61.880(2) of the Open Records Act. We are not empowered to conduct an investigation into the court's handling of its own records. Having concluded that the Act does not govern access to court records, and that no violation of the Act occurred, our duty is discharged. Mr. Sowards must seek redress for any grievance relating to access to court records through the courts.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.