Meguerian v. Office of Attorney General

86 A.3d 924, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 547
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 14, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 86 A.3d 924 (Meguerian v. Office of Attorney General) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meguerian v. Office of Attorney General, 86 A.3d 924, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 547 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION BY

Judge SIMPSON.

Jenny Stephens (Stephens) appeals from a final determination by the appeals officer designated by the Office of the Attorney General (AG) that denied her appeal from the AG’s denial of her request seeking emails relating to an employee’s former position under the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL).1 The AG’s appeals officer denied the request because the emails sought do not qualify as records of the agency. Upon review, we affirm.

[927]*927I. Background

Attorney Garen Meguerian submitted a request seeking “any and all emails, in their native electronic and searchable format, reflecting communications by and between Jessie Smith and any of the following individuals for the period January 1, 2011 through [January 30, 2013],...” (Request). Reproduced Record (R.R.) at la-2a. The Request then identified specific individuals and “anyone utilizing <@dauphinc.org’ to send or receive electronic communications.” R.R. at 2a.

AG timely responded, invoking an extension to conduct a legal review, and asking Attorney Meguerian “to specify a subject matter that would assist this office in carrying out a more tailored search to properly address the intent of your request.” R.R. at 4a. According to AG, during a telephone call with its RTK Officer, Attorney Meguerian specified the “Dog Law”2 as the subject matter for the emails requested. R.R. at 6a.

AG responded to the Request, denying access to the emails because they did not qualify as “records” of the agency, AG. AG explained that Jessie Smith was not appointed to her position with AG until December 31, 2011. Further, pursuant to agency policy, AG did not retain emails older than six months. Of the emails retained, emails regarding “Dog Law” limited potentially responsive records to exchanges between Julian Prager, Libby Williams, Marsha Perelman, and Sarah Speed. However, AG explained, emails pertaining to Dog Law did not relate to Smith’s employment and were outside the scope of agency activity. Accordingly, the emails did not reflect AG activity, and were not attributable to AG based on the RTKL definition of “records” in Section 102, 65 P.S. § 67.102.

In rebuttal, Attorney Meguerian advised AG that he never limited his request to “Dog Law,” and sought all emails between the identified individuals because he is interested in a lawsuit for defamation initiated by Smith. R.R. at 8a. He advised he intended to serve a subpoena for these emails. Id. Attorney Meguerian then appealed to the AG appeals officer.3

In his appeal, Attorney Meguerian denied ever limiting the Request by subject matter, and stated: “I advised [the Right to Know Officer (RTKO) ] that we would not provide specificity as to the subject matter insofar as our interest was pursuant to any matter(s) recorded between Smith and the named individuals. Furthermore, [RTKO] was specifically advised that we were not limiting our request to records pertaining to ‘Dog Law.’ ” R.R. at 11a (emphasis in original). He argued AG’s interpretation of “ ‘record’ is overly-narrow,” contending emails Smith sent while employed by AG evidence agency activities. R.R. at 13a. He further asserted any emails she created, received or retained, manifest her role as a public official using AG computers and servers during business hours, “notwithstanding [their] content.” R.R. at 14a.

The AG’s appeals officer denied the appeal, concluding the identified emails do not constitute “records” as defined in the RTKL. Attorney Meguerian, on behalf of his client, the originally named petitioner, Jenny Stephens, appealed to this Court.4

[928]*928II. Discussion

AG is a Commonwealth agency as defined by the RTKL. Section 102 of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.102. A Commonwealth agency bears the burden of proving a record is exempt from disclosure. Dep’t of Transp. v. Office of Open Records (Aris), 7 A.3d 329 (Pa.Cmwlth.2010). The scope of review for a question of law under the RTKL is plenary. Bowling v. Office of Open Records, — Pa.-, 75 A.3d 453 (2013).

A. Standing

AG challenges Stephens’ standing to appeal the denial because Attorney Megueri-an never identified her as the party in interest. We review this procedural issue as a matter of law based on the following undisputed facts.

Stephens was not the “requester” under the RTKL. Attorney Meguerian made the initial request, and he appealed the request to the AG’s appeals officer. There is no written indication that Attorney Megue-rian submitted the Request on Stephens’ behalf. Attorney Meguerian’s appeal to the appeals officer repeatedly refers to “our request,” and indicates the intent behind the Request was to elicit facts relevant to a defamation suit Smith filed, presumably against his client. R.R. at 8a. However, he did not reveal the identity of the client.

Under Section 1301(a) of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.1301(a), either “a requester or the agency may file a petition for review ... with the Commonwealth Court.” This case presents unique facts in that Attorney Meguerian was the “requester” to the agency in the administrative proceedings, and filed this petition for review. Section 1301(a) confers standing to appeal upon Attorney Meguerian, and Attorney Me-guerian actually filed the petition. The difficulty here arises because Attorney Meguerian’s capacity in making the request appears to be on his own behalf, and his capacity in filing the petition for review is as “Attorney for the Petitioner Jenny Stephens.” See Pet. for Review, signature block.

Construing the language of the statute strictly, the requester, Attorney Meguerian, filed the petition for review. Therefore, he has standing to appeal. AG argues the client Stephens lacks standing to appeal, and is not the proper petitioner. The facts of record compel our agreement.

The RTKL defines “requester” as “[a] person that is a legal resident of the United States and requests a record pursuant to this act.” 65 P.S. § 67.102. Attorney Meguerian submitted the Request.

Attorney Meguerian did not indicate in correspondence that he submitted the Request on behalf of a client. Further, in correspondence he did not identify Stephens as the real party in interest. Deliberately or not, Attorney Meguerian did not clarify the capacity in which he made the Request. If he made it on behalf of his client, he should have so stated or otherwise explained Stephens’ status as the directly interested party.

The concept of “standing,” in its accurate legal sense, is concerned only with the question of who is entitled to make a legal challenge to the matter involved. Pa. Nat’l Mut. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Dep’t of Labor & Indus., Prevailing Wage Bd., 552 Pa. 385, 715 A.2d 1068 (1998); Pa. Game Comm’n v. Dep’t of Envtl. Res., 521 Pa. 121, 555 A.2d 812 (1989). Standing may be conferred by statute or by having an interest deserving of legal protection. Pa. Game Comm’n.

[929]

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Bluebook (online)
86 A.3d 924, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meguerian-v-office-of-attorney-general-pacommwct-2013.