by Derek P. Cole on August 1, 2016
posted in Public Records Act,
In its July 25, 2016 edition, the Daily Journal published our article, Making Effective Public Records Requests. The article discusses city attorney Derek Cole’s perspective on how to streamline the records-request process and obtain records more quickly. A link to the article is here: Making Effective Records Requests Article ... Continue Reading
by Derek P. Cole on March 28, 2016
posted in Public Records Act, Recent Court Decisions,
As this Blog previously noted, the State Supreme Court had before it two cases in which inadvertent disclosures of attorney-client privileged records were made in response to requests under the California Public Records Act (“CPRA”). In both cases, the question was whether the mistaken releases waived the privileges. (Our previous updates about these cases are linked here and here.) On March 17, the Court resolved a split in the appellate courts by ruling that mistaken disclosures do not waive the attorney-client privilege (or the related attorney “work-product” protection). In ... Continue Reading
by Betsy Martyn on January 28, 2016
posted in CEQA, Damages, Elections, Employee Benefits, Employment Law, Ethics, Legislative Updates, Medical Marijuana, Proposition 215, Public Records Act, Water, Zoning,
The following laws are effective January 1, 2016, unless otherwise provided. These legislative changes were selected as those of importance and/or interest to public agencies. ... Continue Reading
by Derek P. Cole on August 10, 2015
posted in Public Records Act, Recent Court Decisions,
When an agency mistakenly releases privileged documents in response to a Public Records Act (“PRA”) request, it does not waive the privilege it possesses in those documents. So ruled the San Francisco-Based First District Court of Appeal on July 31, 2015 in Newark Unified School District v. Superior Court. The court’s ruling contradicts the December 2014 holding of the Los-Angeles Based Second District Court of Appeal in Ardon v. City of Los Angeles. That court held that once privileged documents are released, agencies effectively waive any privilege attached to them, and cannot demand ... Continue Reading
by Derek P. Cole on April 27, 2015
posted in Public Records Act,
In a ruling that probably surprised many people, the Los Angeles-based Second District Court of Appeal held this month that attorney billing records need not be produced under the California Public Records Act (“CPRA”). The appellate court overturned a lower court ruling that found outside counsels’ litigation-billing invoices were public records that must be disclosed. In County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors v. Superior Court, a lawsuit that originated with a public-records request made by the American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”), the court found itself caught between competing ... Continue Reading