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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 the Administrative Office of the Courts is not bound by the provisions of the Open Records Act and therefore cannot be said to have violated the Act in the disposition of Eric Cunningham's October 5, 2011, request for "the dates and times Lee Circuit Court was in session from 7-1-11 to 9-1-11." Here, as in 04-ORD-037, we find that although "AOC may have 'painted with too broad a brush in applying Ex parte Farley, 570 S.W.2d 617 (1978) . . . to support its position' that records containing the information sought, if such records exist and are within its custody, need not be disclosed,"

Horn v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, 916 S.W.2d 173, 175 (Ky. 1995), these authorities confirm that its records are not governed by the 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.

Distributed to:

Eric CunninghamMarc TheiraultKimberly C. Hosea

LLM Summary
The decision concludes that the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is not subject to the provisions of the Open Records Act. Therefore, it did not violate the Act in its handling of a request for specific court session records. The decision references a previous opinion (04-ORD-037) to affirm that the AOC's records are not governed by the Open Records Act, supporting its position with past interpretations of its obligations under the law.
Disclaimer:
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Requested By:
Eric Cunningham
Agency:
Administrative Office of the Courts
Type:
Open Records Decision
Lexis Citation:
2011 Ky. AG LEXIS 198
Cites:
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