The Dumas Law Firm
167 Cherry Street #107
Milford, CT 06460
203-275-9010
Fax: 866-381-9010
info@dumaslawfirm.com
Author Archives: Attorney Mark Dumas
Is the FBI setting a trend with online freedom of information requests?
The Federal Bureau Investigation has been widely criticized for how it handles freedom of information requests, but Federal Computer Week reports that the FBI is taking steps to change that. FBI record requests are going digital and the agency has … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Report from attorney’s investigator can be withheld in employee discipline case
One of the most important exceptions to Freedom of Information Act’s is a provision that allows public agencies to deny FOI requests for documents that are “communications privileged by the attorney-client relationship.” See Conn. Gen. Stat. §1-210(b)(10). This issue comes up … Continue reading
Posted in Connecticut Freedom of Informaition Commission Decisions, Freedom of Information Law
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FOI bill pits clerks vs. cops
There is a nice article by Jacqueline Rabe over at the CT Mirror on the controversy surrounding a bill that would codify a recent court decision holding the addresses of public safety workers can still be found through local land records … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom of Information Law
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Agency must produce database results
Generally speaking, a public entity is not required to create a public record when it does not already exist just because someone asks for a particular record pursuant to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act. This is a good policy. … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom of Information Law
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Lessons from an FOI frequent flier
One of the underlying themes of this blog is that public agencies need to learn how to deal effectively with what I like to call FOI “frequent fliers.” These are the citizens — or entities in the case of organizations … Continue reading
Four month wait for records is too long
It must be prisoner FOI week over at the Law Tribune, because we have a second inmate records request decision in this week’s issue. In fact, it is the same inmate. In this request, the inmate wanted questions answered … Continue reading
FOI on the 4th of July!
This week’s Law Tribune has a case summary of Elliott v. Warden, Doc. No. FIC 2008-627 (July 1, 2009). The case involves Connecticut General Statutes § 1-210(b)(18) and the public safety exception for Department of Corrections’ records. Elliot, an inmate, … Continue reading
How not to use your city email address
This week’s freedom of information tip should be pretty obvious, but maybe not obvious enough. Here it is: don’t use your government email address to send racy emails to your girlfriend or boyfriend. Why do I bring this up? Well, … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom of Information Law
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Record retention another concern 4 txts
I’ve written before about text messages as public records. We know that text messages are — at least in some circumstances — public records under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act and that the same logic would apply under Connecticut … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom of Information Law
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Federal courts vote to provide more information on PACER about sealed cases
About a month ago, I wrote about Senator Lieberman’s efforts to eliminate the 8¢ per page fees for downloading records from PACER, the federal courts public record system. There haven’t been any changes in fees yet, but the federal courts … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom of Information Law
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