Providing highlights and insights about the PA Right to Know Law and decisions of the Office of Open Records as well as court opinions
Francis Pileggi is a partner in the firm of Lewis Brisbois, and practices primarily in the areas of corporate and commercial litigation.
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
The OOR issued a Final Determination recently, holding that a Request seeking election-related data does not necessarily need to state a time period from which records are being requested in order for the request to be sufficiently specific under Section 703 of the RTKL. Abby …
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
On July 27, 2020, Act 77 of 2020 (“Act 77”) became law without Governor Wolf’s signature, and is codified as 71 P.S. §§ 720.301, et seq.
In a July 28, 2020 press release, Governor Wolf characterized Act 77 as clarifying “that various data and models…
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
On January 11, 2021, the OOR entered a Final Determination holding that a Request seeking data relating to protected COVID-19 records that had previously been made public by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (“DOH”) is not protected by the Disease Prevention and Control Law of…
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in Uniontown Newspapers, Inc. v. Pa. Dep’t of Corrections, 2020 Pa. LEXIS 6488 (Dec. 22, 2020), that a requester of documents was entitled to attorneys’ fees under 65 P.S. §67.1304 (“Section 1304”) because delegation of the search for relevant…
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
On August 14, 2020, the OOR entered a Final Determination holding that some categories of information relating to personnel hired to work with infection prevention and control at a nursing home (“preventionists”) are producible under the RTKL, but that reports made by the preventionists to…
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
On June 9, 2020, the Commonwealth Court handed down a decision in Pennsylvania Dep’t of Labor and Industry v. Chester Darlington, No. 1583 C.D. 2019 (Pa. Commw.). The decision upheld the OOR’s Final Determination that documents relating to periodic, routine, and regular boiler inspections conducted…
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
On July 28, 2020, the OOR entered a Final Determination holding that a Request defined solely by a collection of broad keywords and a specific time frame is sufficiently specific under the RTKL to be granted. Dennis Roddy v. Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, OOR …
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
A few months ago, the OOR’s Final Determination In re Scott and Janet Brunermer v. Apollo Borough, Docket No. AP 2019-0589 (June 30, 2020) held that, if requested, metadata relating to requested e-mails must be provided to a party requesting that data, even if…
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
On September 14, 2020, the Honorable William S. Stickman, IV of the Western District of Pennsylvania entered judgment that Governor Wolf’s “stay at home” order and the order closing “non-life-sustaining” businesses for months (“business shutdown”) are unconstitutional in County of Butler, et al. v. Thomas…
This synopsis was prepared by Pennsylvania attorney Catherine Olanich Raymond.
Within six weeks of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Easton Area School District v. Miller, 13 MAP 2019, 2020 Pa. LEXIS 3378 (“Easton”), the OOR was required to apply the Easton holding to a school bus video request. That holding is the…