Request By:
Steven Waid, # 199570Trina B. Huston
Bourbon County Judicial Center
310 Main Street, P.O. Box 740
Paris, KY 40362-0740
Opinion
Opinion By: Gregory D. Stumbo, Attorney General; Michelle D. Harrison, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
At issue in this appeal is whether the Bourbon Circuit and District Court Clerk violated the Kentucky Open Records Act in failing to respond upon receipt of Steven Waid's request for a copy of the case history for 03-T-00665. Upon receiving notification of Mr. Waid's appeal from this office, Clerk Trina B. Huston advised that her office had "not received the letter from Mr. Waid until we received the copy" from this office; attached to her written response is a copy of the requested case history, a copy of which her office forwarded to Mr. Waid. Nothing more is required. 1 Although this office is unable to resolve the factual issue concerning delivery and receipt of Mr. Waid's request, Ms. Huston exceeded her duty in honoring Mr. Waid's request upon receipt of his appeal.
Because records in the custody of circuit and district court clerks are properly characterized as court records, which are not governed by the Open Records Act, rather than public records within the meaning of KRS 61.870(2) , the Attorney General has long recognized that neither circuit nor district court clerks are subject to the provisions of the Open Records Act. Consequently, the Bourbon Circuit and District Court Clerk cannot be said to have violated the Act by initially failing to respond upon receipt of Mr. Waid's request as would otherwise be required by KRS 61.880(1). In our view, 98-ORD-6, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is controlling on the facts presented.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 Because Ms. Huston provided Mr. Waid with a copy of any existing record which is responsive to his request, any related issues would be moot per 40 KAR 1:030, Section 6 even if she was required to comply with provisions of the Act.