Opinion
Opinion By: Andy Beshear,Attorney General;Gordon Slone,Assistant Attorney General
Summary : Jefferson County Coroner's Office did not violate the Open Records Act in its disposition of a request for information on how to submit a request for records regarding names and ages of suicide victims.
Open Records Decision
The question presented in this appeal is whether Jefferson County Coroner's Office ("Coroner's Office") violated the Open Records Act ("Act") in its disposition of WDRB News' question on how to submit a request for records regarding names and ages of suicide victims. For the reasons stated below, we find that the Coroner's Office did not violate the Act.
Gilbert Corsey, WDRB News, emailed the Coroner's Office on June 18, 2019, with the following request:
I am trying to compile a list of names and ages of people in Louisville who committed suicide through the public record process. The coroner's office provides the information for homicide or accidental death victim's automatically to the media. How should I obtain it for suicides between 08/01/2018-06/07/2019. What kind of request would you like to receive?
The Coroner's Office responded that same day as follows:
I understand you just spoke with Dr. Weakley-Jones. I can provide you some numbers to include # of suicide deaths for the range you mentioned; age, sex, race and cause of death [method of suicide] . I must tell you that there is an exemption for open records requests regarding personal identifying information of juveniles; therefore, I can only give you numbers. I have been in many conversations with the Jefferson County Attorney's office regarding juvenile suicides and records requests. Gilbert, we don't report suicide deaths to media as they are almost consistently in private homes.
WDRB News appealed this response on August 14, 2019, citing to KRS 71.029 1 as a basis for requiring the Coroner's Office to report "death information directly to the media for cases like homicides, drowning, and accidental [death] yet [the Coroner's Office] refuses to release the information of juveniles who took their own lives." WDRB News further stated: "I spoke to Jefferson County Coroner Barbara Weakley-Jones directly and explained that such denial means her office picks and choosing [ sic ] which deaths in the community to provide public information on in violation of the above-mentioned statute."
Annale Taylor, Assistant Jefferson County Attorney, responded to the appeal on behalf of the Coroner's Office. On the day it received WDRB's email, the Coroner's Office offered to provide WDRB News with statistical information relating to suicides, but did not receive a response to that offer. On appeal, the Coroner's Office claims that its response to WDRB News implicitly asserted KRS 61.878(1)(a) by explaining that it would not release any personal identifying information of juveniles. 2 As the Coroner's Office never received a response from WDRB News, it concluded that WDRB News no longer wanted the other data if it could not also have the names. In response to the appeal, the Coroner's Office relied, in part, on KRS 61.878(1)(a) in refusing to provide personal information of juveniles. The Coroner's Office stated that KRS 72.029 imposes no duty on the office to submit the monthly report to any agency or entity other than the Department of Public Health.
WDRB News' Request for Information . This office can only determine "whether the agency violated provisions of [the Open Records Act] ," and violations of the Act are based upon a public agency's response, or lack of response, to a request for records. 3 WDRB News' question of, "[h]ow should I obtain it for suicides between 08/01/2018-06/07/2019. What kind of request would you like to receive?[,]" does not present a request for records, but rather a request for information. The Kentucky Open Records Act addresses requests for records, not requests for information. 03-ORD-028. In 95-ORD-131, the Attorney General observed:
Requests for information, as distinguished from records, are outside of the scope of the open records provisions. See, e.g., OAG 89-77. Our position is premised on the notion that "[o]pen records provisions address only inspection of records . . . [and] do not require public agencies or officials to provide or compile specific information to conform to the parameters of a given request.
WDRB News' question on how it should obtain information for suicides is a request for information, not a request for records, and an agency is not obligated to honor a request for information under the Act. 02-ORD-88; KRS 61.870, et seq . Accordingly, we find no 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 shall be notified of any action in circuit court, but shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 KRS 72.029 states:
Every coroner or other official performing a coroner's functions shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, report to the Department for Public Health the death of any child under the age of eighteen (18) years occurring within the county during the preceding month, and the circumstances of the death. The report shall be made on the form required pursuant to administrative regulations promulgated pursuant to KRS Chapter 13A by the department. The form shall be developed in consultation with the Kentucky Coroners' Association.
2 KRS 61.878(1)(a) allows public agencies to withhold "Public records containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy[.]"
3 KRS 61.880(2)(a) states in pertinent part:
If a complaining party wishes the Attorney General to review a public agency's denial of a request to inspect a public record, the complaining party shall forward to the Attorney General a copy of the written request and a copy of the written response denying inspection. If the public agency refuses to provide a written response, a complaining party shall provide a copy of the written request. The Attorney General shall review the request and denial and issue ? a written decision stating whether the agency violated provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884.