by Dave Williams
ATLANTA – Private contractors working for government agencies are subject to Georgia’s Open Records Act, the Supreme Court ruled this week.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision overturned a lower court’s discovery lawsuit against a Georgia Institute of Technology professor that was dismissed last August because he failed to respond to a discovery request related to his work as a private contractor for the university.
The professor had argued that the legal obligation to release public records rests solely with a public authority and not with an individual employee or private contractor.
The Georgia First Amendment Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief urging the court to vacate the rulings of both the Georgia Court of Appeals and, previously, a trial court in Fulton County.
“The Georgia Supreme Court is a welcome affirmation of Georgia’s commitment to open access to public records,” said Sarah Brewerton-Palmer, vice president of the foundation’s board of directors.
“Government contractors are often the only ones who have copies of the records they create while doing their work. Forcing the public to go to a government agency to obtain those records would, in many cases, mean that the records would never actually be provided.”
The Supreme Court of Georgia has remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
