Frazier v. Philadelphia County Office of the Prothonotary
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
No. 2344 C.D. 2011
December 4, 2012
The Commonwealth Court held that the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) does not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from the denial of a Right to Know Law (“RTKL”) request by a prothonotary because prothonotaries are considered judicial agencies and are subject to a separate appeals process under the Law.
Background
Edison Frazier submitted a RTKL request to the prothonotary asking for an autopsy report and other related records. When Frazier did not receive a reply 30 days later, Frazier assumed his request to be deemed denied and appealed to the OOR. The OOR then dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Commonwealth Court Decision
The Commonwealth Court affirmed the dismissal by the OOR, explaining that “the OOR does not have jurisdiction to hear appeals under the Right to Know Law taken from determinations of a judicial agency of the Commonwealth.” Under Pennsylvania law, prothonotaries are classified as judicial agencies, which are not subject to the OOR’s jurisdiction under the RTKL.
This case is distinguishable from the recent Hearst Television Inc. v. Coroner of Cumberland County case, in which the Supreme Court held that a coroners’ cause and manner of death records are public under the RTKL. In that case, the request was made to a county coroner, not the prothonotary, and the appeal therefore proceeded first to the OOR and then the courts.