In another newsworthy, but unheralded, victory for Open Government, on April 2, 2019, the Fayette Circuit Court affirmed an open records decision issued by the attorney general's office in 2016 in a separate dispute involving the University of Kentucky and Lachin Hatemi.

The full text of the open records decision which prompted the appeal can be found at:

https://ag.ky.gov/orom/2016/16ORD101.doc

The dispute arose when the university denied Hatemi access to the minutes of meetings conducted by its Healthcare Compensation Planning Committee.

Again, the university challenged the attorney general's authority to review the issue on appeal and provided scant information to the attorney general to substantiate its position that the committee was not a public agency.

Based on the information provided, the attorney general determined that the committee was established by the dean of the university's School of Medicine to advise on faculty compensation and that a majority of its members were clinical department chairs appointed by the dean.

The fact that its role was advisory only did not alter the attorney general's analysis since the term "public agency" extends to "any board, commission, committee, subcommittee, ad hoc committee, advisory committee, counsel, or agency . . . established, created, and controlled by a public agency."

Judge Kimberly Bunnell affirmed that reasoning, but declined to order disclosure of records that were functionally equivalent to minutes after the university denied the existence of minutes. Additionally, she found no evidence of willfulness and refused to award Hatemi attorney's fees.

As the attached records indicate, the university has appealed Judge Bunnell's ruling to the Court of Appeals on the issue of the committee's public agency status.

Hatemi has cross-appealed on the issue of records production and attorney's fees.