Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway, 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 Matthew Farra, a private attorney, is not bound by, and therefore did not violate, the Open Records Act in failing to respond to his former client, Henry Crawford's, request for all records related to his case. We believe that 01-ORD-24 and 01-ORD-40, copies of which are attached hereto and incorporated by reference, are controlling. Although private attorneys may be obligated under the Rules of Professional Conduct governing attorneys licensed to practice law in Kentucky to provide records from their clients' case files, 1 they are not obligated to do so under 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.
Henry Crawford, # 174142Matthew J. Farra
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 See SCR 3.130(1.16)(d), which provides: "Upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client's interests, such as giving reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering papers and property to which the client is entitled and refunding any advance payment of fee that has not been earned." See also, Kentucky Bar Association v. G. William Blackburn, 833 S.W.2d 877 (Ky. 1994) and Kentucky Bar Association v. Perry, 102 S.W.3d 507 (Ky. 2003).