NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
97-ORD-91
June 12, 1997
In re: Bob Jones/Department for Social Services, Cabinet for
Families and Children
Open Records Decision
This matter comes to the Attorney General on appeal from the
response of the Department for Social Services, Cabinet for
Families and Children, to the May 8, 1997 open records request of
Mr. Bob Jones to inspect copies of the following records:
All records, correspondence, notes, reports, evaluations, etc.
pertaining to Adult Services contact with Lucille Jones at the
Markie Cancer Center of the University of Kentucky starting at
Feb 26, 1997 thru.
By letter dated May 13, 1997, Ms. Elaine Campbell, Records
Section Supervisor for the Department, responded to Mr. Jones's
request, stating:
This correspondence is in response to your request for
information concerning the above person. The material will be
forwarded to this office, from our Lexington office, for
reviewing and redacting according to the statute. Prior to
providing any information to you and pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(l)
and KRS 194.060(1), I will need a copy of your appointment as
executor of Ms. Lucille Jones' estate or a court order. KRS
61.878(1)(l) provides:
Public records or information the disclosure of which is
prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by
enactment of the General Assembly.
KRS 194.060(1) provides:
. . . All records and reports of the cabinet, which directly
or indirectly identify a client or patient or former client or
patient, are confidential and may be disclosed only with the
consent of the person identified or his guardian, if any, shall
give his consent;
Therefore, to satisfy the requirements of KRS 194.060, we will
need a copy of the court appointment of an executor who is to
administer Ms. Lucille Jones' estate, or a court order, so that
we may release these confidential records.
Mr. Jones's letter of appeal also indicates that, in addition
to his request for the Department's records relating to Lucille
Jones, he has also made another request for records relating to a
review by the Department of actions of two of its social workers
in regards to Lucille Jones. However, Mr. Jones did not provide
this office with either a copy of his written request to the
Department for records relating to the review or the agency's
written denial of this request.
40 KAR 1:030, Section 1, provides that the Attorney General
shall not consider an open records appeal that fails to conform
to KRS 61.880(2), which requires the submission of a copy of the
written request to the public agency and the public agency's
written denial, if the agency provided a denial. Thus, Mr.
Jones's appeal as to this second issue is procedurally deficient
and not properly perfected. Accordingly, it will not be
considered in this appeal.
The issue presented in this appeal is whether the Department's
response to Mr. Jones's request for agency records related to
Lucille Jones was consistent with the Open Records Act. For the
reasons which follow, we conclude that the Department properly
denied the request under authority of the exceptions to
disclosure cited in its response.
KRS 194.060(1) requires the Department to protect the
confidential nature of all records which directly of indirectly
identify a client or patient or a former client or patient of the
Cabinet and ensure that these records are not disclosed to any
person except as, and insofar as, the person identified in the
records or his or her guardian has given consent to, or a court
order authorizes, the release or disclosure of the records.
96-ORD-14; 93-ORD-78.
Ms. Campbell, in her response, informed Mr. Jones that to
satisfy the requirements of KRS 194.060, the Department would
need a copy of the court appointment of the executor who was to
administer Ms. Lucille Jones's estate and who would give consent
to the release of the confidential records, or a court order, so
that it could release the records pertaining to Ms. Jones. Mr.
Jones failed to show that his request met any of these
exceptions.
Accordingly, we conclude that the Department's response
denying access to the requested records until one of the above
requirements for disclosure has been met was consistent and in
accordance with the requirements of KRS 61.878(1)(l) and KRS
194.060(1).
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.
A. B. Chandler III
Attorney General
James M. Ringo
Assistant Attorney General
#536
Distributed to:
Bob Jones
Co-Chair
The Lucille Jones Foundation
440 Locust Avenue
Lexington KY 40505
Elaine Campbell
Records Section Supervisor
Department for Social Services
Cabinet for Families and Children
275 East Main
Frankfort KY 40601