Delaware Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Delaware, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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If a Delaware agency keeps expungement statistics in a database and the requester knows the data exists (because the same agency reported it to the Governor's Office), can the agency say the data is 'not finalized' and refuse to produce it?
Not without sworn proof. Producing easily disclosable data from a computer system is not 'creating a new record' under FOIA. When the requester pointed out that the Governor's Office had received the …
If I ask a Delaware city for the rules governing how its council moves a bill from committee to a vote, and the city says 'we don't have a separate document for that,' is that a FOIA violation?
No, as long as the city's response is clear that no separate document exists. The City of Dover told Shyanne Miller that it conducts its legislative proceedings 'in accordance with the City of Dover C…
After a Delaware AG opinion ordered the City of Dover to re-review its withholdings of records about the police chief and the FOP, was the City's later use of attorney-client privilege and the personnel file exemption proper, and did the City have to file an affidavit with its supplemental production?
Yes, the privilege calls were proper, and no, the City did not have to file an affidavit with the supplemental production. The attorney-client privilege exists independently of the prior pending-litig…
When a Delaware county uses code enforcement against a homeowner over multiple years, can the homeowner FOIA the search warrant materials, hearing recordings, and internal communications, or are those covered by the investigatory files exemption?
The county must produce administrative hearing recordings and ordinary code enforcement records (notices, officer assignments) but can withhold search warrant applications, affidavits, and supporting …
Can a Delaware citizen get body-camera footage, dash-cam video, and police reports from a traffic incident the citizen was personally involved in once the investigation is closed?
No, not under FOIA. The investigatory files exemption in 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(3) covers records compiled for civil or criminal law enforcement purposes, including body-cam footage, incident reports, …
Once a Delaware public body has invoked the pending-litigation FOIA exemption to refuse a request, can the requester get around the exemption by re-submitting essentially the same request with a different topic label?
Not entirely, but the public body still has to do work. Sussex County had previously denied an offshore-wind-related records request; the requester then filed a new request with the topic changed to '…
When a Delaware public body says it has no records responsive to a FOIA request but the requester sees evidence the records exist, what kind of evidence does the public body have to put forward to prove its search was adequate?
A sworn statement is required. Generalized denials in a lawyer's response don't satisfy the burden. The public body has to file a sworn affidavit describing who was consulted, what systems were search…
If a Delaware county says it has no more records about a property easement but I think there must be more, what does the county have to do to prove it really searched?
It has to put the search under oath. AG opinion 26-IB06 found that New Castle County did NOT violate FOIA in responding to Gary Binns's request for easement and accessway records, because the county p…
Can I get Delaware State Police body camera footage of my own arrest after the case is closed?
Generally no. AG opinion 26-IB05 found that the Delaware State Police did NOT violate FOIA by denying James Eaves's request for body-worn camera footage related to his closed criminal cases. The inves…
Can a Delaware public body charge me thousands of dollars in advance for school records held by an outside contractor?
Yes, but it has to scope the estimate properly. AG opinion 26-IB04 found that the Delaware Department of Education did NOT violate FOIA by collecting all estimated fees in advance. But the AG recommen…
Can I get my own job interview notes from a Delaware city under FOIA?
No. AG opinion 26-IB02 found that the City of Wilmington did NOT violate FOIA by denying Tymir Thompkins's request for his own interview panel records. Records reflecting interview panelist evaluation…
If a Delaware public body says my housing application records are exempt but won't say specifically why, did they violate FOIA?
Yes. AG opinion 26-IB01 found that the Delaware State Housing Authority VIOLATED FOIA by failing to meet its burden to justify denying Talia Mann's request for her own tenant program application recor…
Can I get the police station booking-area video and 911 audio for an arrest where the charges were later dismissed?
No. AG opinion 25-IB65 found that New Castle County did NOT violate FOIA by denying Gordon Putnik's request for body-cam, dash-cam, 911 audio, CAD logs, dispatch notes, and station/booking video relat…
Does Delaware FOIA force an agency to answer my questions or just to produce existing records?
The Delaware AG concluded that the Auditor of Accounts FOIA petition was moot. The Auditor had responded (one day late, blamed on a FOIA Coordinator transition) by sending the requested annual financi…
Does Delaware FOIA make a complaint moot if the agency provides the records after the petition is filed?
The Delaware AG concluded that the FOIA petition against the Department of Safety and Homeland Security was moot. By the time the petition reached the AG, the Department had already responded to the r…
Did Wilmington violate Delaware FOIA by demanding $170 to produce a mayor's appointment calendar?
The Delaware AG concluded that the City of Wilmington did not violate FOIA by giving a $170.01 cost estimate for the mayor's appointment calendar. A cost estimate is not a denial of records; the reque…
Can a Delaware municipality charge 25 cents per photocopy under FOIA, even though the default FOIA fee is 10 cents?
The Delaware AG concluded the Town of Dewey Beach did not violate FOIA by adopting a 25-cent-per-page photocopy fee. Section 10002(3)(m)(1) sets a default fee of 10 cents per page, but municipalities …
Can Delaware DNREC withhold property records under the pending-litigation exemption if the requester might sue their neighbor (not DNREC)?
The Delaware AG concluded DNREC violated FOIA. Potential litigation between two neighboring property owners is not the kind of pending-litigation the § 10002(l)(9) exemption was designed to protect. T…
Can Delaware's governor withhold emails with a major developer under executive privilege if he submits an affidavit explaining why?
The Delaware AG concluded the Office of the Governor did not violate FOIA when it redacted communications between the governor's staff and developer Buccini/Pollin Group under executive privilege. An …
Can a litigant use Delaware FOIA to get records about an expert witness an agency may use against them?
The Delaware AG concluded DNREC did not violate FOIA when it denied a request for records about Environmental Liability Assessment, LLC (ELA), the third-party consultant DNREC used in 'ability to pay'…
Can Delaware DNREC withhold all records about a master plan when only a small piece of it is involved in pending litigation with the requester?
The Delaware AG concluded DNREC violated FOIA by applying the pending-litigation exemption too broadly. While some records pertaining to the easement and the relocated Yorklyn/RR Segment were properly…
How does Delaware count the 15-day FOIA response clock when a request is sent to the wrong contact at a public body?
The Delaware AG concluded that the New Castle County Police did not violate FOIA's timeliness rules. A request submitted to a different officer (not the official FOIA Coordinator listed on the website…
Can Delaware FOIA be used to demand the legal reasoning a state agency used to deny a previous FOIA request?
The Delaware AG concluded DNREC did not violate FOIA when it denied a follow-on request seeking the 'bases and reasoning' for an earlier FOIA denial. The requested records were either not records at a…
Why can't I get free copies of Delaware corporate records through a FOIA request to the Department of State?
The Delaware AG concluded that the Department of State did not violate FOIA when it required a requester to pay the statutory $10 per page fee under 6 Del. C. § 18-1105(a)(5). That special statute exp…
Can a Delaware municipality charge a reporter thousands of dollars in vendor fees to fulfill a FOIA request for emails?
The Delaware AG concluded that Wilmington did not violate FOIA when it charged a reporter outside-vendor search fees for a broad multi-year email request. The City supported the need for a vendor with…
Can Delaware DNREC refuse a FOIA request from someone it is suing because the records relate to the lawsuit?
The Delaware AG concluded DNREC did not violate FOIA when it refused to produce records to an attorney whose clients DNREC was suing over a dry cleaning site, because the records pertained to that pen…
Does it satisfy open-meetings law if the people affected by a vote already knew about it, even though the public meeting agenda didn't mention it?
No, according to this opinion. The University of Delaware Board of Trustees voted to revise its bylaws under a vague agenda item ('Additional Resolutions for Board Approval') that didn't mention the b…
Can a town make you view public meeting minutes only at a town clerk's private home?
No, according to this opinion. A resident asked the Town of Little Creek for Town Council meeting minutes. The AG found the Town wasn't required to post minutes online, but did violate FOIA's reasonab…
Can I file a FOIA complaint against a city before its deadline to respond to my records request has even passed?
No, according to this opinion. A property owner petitioned before the City of Rehoboth Beach's 15-business-day response window had run, and the AG found that piece premature. On the merits of what he …
Can a governor's office withhold emails from a public records request just because a state legislator or their staff was copied on them?
Not entirely, according to this opinion. The Governor's Office withheld records under two FOIA exemptions: one for materials protected by privilege, which the AG upheld, and one for emails involving G…
Can a Delaware prison inmate use FOIA to get records from the Department of Correction?
No, the AG found. Delaware's FOIA specifically excludes from the definition of "public record" any Department of Correction records where an inmate in the Department's own custody is the one seeking d…
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Attorney general opinions in Delaware are written by the Delaware Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.