Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nevada Supreme Court expands open records law

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court has expanded the state’s open records law to allow the public more access to government documents, including logs of e-mails.

The court, in a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Nancy Saitta, ruled in a case in which former Gov. Jim Gibbons refused to turn over his 104 e-mail records to the Reno Gazette-Journal in correspondence with ten persons during a six-month period.

When Gibbons claimed the records were confidential because they were either privileged or confidential, the newspaper sought a log of each e-mail and a description why it was confidential.

Saitta wrote that “It is sufficient to simply explain that in most cases, in order to preserve a fair adversarial environment, the log should contain at a minimum, a general factual description of each record withheld and a specific explanation for nondisclosure.”

The newspaper sought the governor’s e-mail correspondence on the state issued account to Mendy Elliott, Kathy Karrasch, Leslie Durant, Warren Trepp, Dawn Gibbons (who was divorcing the governor), Howard Weiss, Joe Martin, Perry DiLoreto, Dianne Cornwall and Mike Dayton. The e-mails were sent from Jan. 1, 2008, to June 4, 2008.

The ruling overturns Carson City District Judge Todd Russell who granted the petition of the newspaper to turn over only six of the 104 e-mails that were not judged confidential.

The court said Nevada’s Open Records Law “must be construed liberally” to ensure the presumption of openness and explicitly declares that any restriction on disclosure must be construed narrowly.”

The decision said “it is sufficient to simply explain that in most cases, in order to preserve a fair adversarial environment, the log should contain, at a minimum, general factual description of each record withheld and a specific explanation for nondisclosure.”

If the state declines access to a government record prior to a suit being filed, it must provide a log of the documents, the court said.

It sent the case back to Judge Russell to order the state to provide the newspaper “with a log containing the general factual description of each of the 98 e-mails withheld and a specific explanation for nondisclosure.”

The court said Judge Russell then must decide whether these e-mails are subject to disclosure

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