Greenberger v. Pennsylvania Insurance Department
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
No. 931 CD 2011
March 7, 2012
The Commonwealth Court vacated a final determination of the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) for lack of jurisdiction in a case arising from a request for records involving the liquidation of an insurance company.
The court ruled that because it had appointed the state’s insurance commissioner to be the liquidator of the company, all records related to the liquidation were under the control of the court and could not be accessed through the Right to Know Law (“RTKL”).
Background
Gerald Greenberger submitted a RTKL request to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department for the “Reinsurance Offset Guidelines” related to the liquidation of an insurance company that had been declared insolvent by the Commonwealth Court. The Insurance Department possessed the guidelines because the Commonwealth Court had appointed the insurance commissioner to act as the company’s liquidator under the Insurance Act, the Pennsylvania statute governing insurance company liquidations.
The department denied the request, claiming that the records were exempt under the internal predecisional deliberations exception of the RTKL.
Greenberger appealed to the OOR, which agreed with the department and declared the records exempt.
Greenberger then appealed to the Commonwealth Court.
Commonwealth Court Decision
The court determined that it need not discuss the RTKL exemption issue because the OOR did not have jurisdiction to rule on the case.
The court explained that in the liquidation proceeding it had appointed the insurance commissioner to be the statutory liquidator, and, under the “Insurance Act, this court has general supervision over the statutory liquidator and the insolvent estate.”
Therefore, any request for records must be directed to the court.
“Simply put,” stated the court, “the RTKL is inapplicable to rehabilitation or liquidation proceedings because they are solely within the control of the court under the Insurance Act.”
As a result, the OOR did not have jurisdiction to hear any appeal from the denial of the RTKL request.
▪ March 7, 2012 – Commonwealth Court Opinion – No. 835 C.D. 2011