Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; James M. Ringo, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter is before the Attorney General on appeal by Franklin Roark who asks this office to determine whether the failure of his attorney, Timothy Schneider, to respond to his open records request was a violation of the Open Records Act. Mr. Roark requested to inspect the following documents:
Boone Co. case: 98-CR-336/all Laboratory Examination Reports/all photos of the crime/all photos of the jewelry/all Statements from Witness/all other Reports to this Crime/copys of Letter from Frank Roark to Mr. Schneider/Copys of Letter from Linda Tally Smith to Mr. Schneider about this case.
For the reasons that follow, we conclude that Mr. Schneider is not subject to the requirements of the Open Records Act and, thus, cannot be said to have violated the Act.
Pursuant to a telephone conversation with the undersigned, Mr. Schneider confirmed that he is an attorney in the private practice of law. He stated that he was once appointed as a public defender to represent Mr. Roark. This fact does not change our conclusion. The documents requested are not public records maintained by a public agency. They are, instead, records in a private attorney's files relating to his representation of a client in a criminal case. Access to those records is a matter that would be addressed by the attorney and his client under the canons of professional responsibility, not the Open Records Act. Accordingly, we conclude that Mr. Schneider actions relative to the request of Mr. Roark did not constitute a violation of the Open Records Act.
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.