Right-to-Know Law Case Summaries

The Commonwealth Court held that an agency’s open records officer cannot waive the agency’s attorney-client privilege by unilaterally deciding to release privileged records.

The Commonwealth Court ruled that the State Employees’ Retirement System could not charge a requestor for labor costs it incurred in complying with her request. The court also held that the Office of Open Records has the authority to establish duplication fees.

The Commonwealth Court ruled that safety studies and information used in preparing those studies is exempt from public access under Pennsylvania law, but the Right to Know Law requires the Department of Transportation to provide access to sight distance measurements and traffic studies that are not used in safety studies.

The Commonwealth Court held that the final arbitration awards and orders in union grievance matters are subject to disclosure under the Right to Know Law, so long as information is redacted if it is covered by the Law’s exemptions.

The Commonwealth Court determined that the price a third-party contractor paid for items it resold to inmates in prison commissaries under a contract with the Department of Corrections was outside the scope of its contracted work and thus was not subject to disclosure under the Right to Know Law.

The Commonwealth Court determined that incident reports of the Pennsylvania State Police are exempt from disclosure under the Right to Know Law’s criminal investigation exemption.

The Commonwealth Court ruled that notes, witness statements, and other materials related to Department of Health nursing home licensing inspections are exempt from disclosure under the Right to Know Law’s noncriminal investigation exemption.

The Commonwealth Court held that emails sent to and from a court employee were not subject to disclosure under the Right to Know Law because the Law provides that only financial records of judicial agencies are accessible to the public, even if the records are stored on computers owned by the county and not the court.

The Commonwealth Court determined that a Pennsylvania State Police report showing the arrival and departure times of police executing a search warrant was a criminal investigative record and therefore exempt from disclosure under the Right to Know Law.

The Commonwealth Court determined that disclosure of the “Supervision Strategies” section of the chapter on Sex Offender Supervision Protocol in the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole’s manual could threaten public safety. Therefore, that section is exempt from disclosure under the public safety exception of the Right to Know Law.