Court: Government can choose format of records requests

JACKSON, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? An appeals court ruling released Wednesday says government officials are not required to release public records in the format that the citizen requests.

In addition, the decision by the Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Jackson reaffirmed that public records requests do not have to be made in writing.

The case stems from Shelby County resident Byron Wells, who had accessed public documents via the Shelby County Web site. He filed suit in September 2004 shortly after county government officials placed limits on the amount of data that could be downloaded and the length of connection time to its Web site.

Among his complaints, Wells said the limited Internet access violated the Tennessee Public Records Act and that officials denied him copies of public records in a format he requested.

The court, however, said in the ruling that “allowing a custodian of records to choose the manner in which he or she presents public records to citizens is not unreasonable so long as that manner does not distort the record or inhibit access to that record.”

Wells also argued that the government’s requirement that he must first present a written request before being allowed public access was a denial of access to public records.

The court reaffirmed that nowhere in the Tennessee Public Records Act does it allow for an “official to deny access to public records if a citizen does not first request access in writing.”