Legal Q&A (10.16.19) Q. Can/should an agency require a person filing a FOI request include name, telephone number, physical address? By SCPA Attorney Taylor Smith A. Public bodies, including, but limited to, state agencies, are not required to gather contact information of a SCFOIA requester beyond what is necessary to...
Legal Q&A: Selling photo goods
Legal Q&A: Selling photo goods (July 2019) Q. Is it legally appropriate to offer an online marketplace through my newspaper’s website whereby a customer can have an image or video published by the paper to be placed on a new product for sale (i.e. coffee mug, calendar, digital picture/video frame)?...
Legal Q&A: Law enforcement redaction
Q: In response to a S.C. FOIA request, can law enforcement redact information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute unreasonable invasion of personal privacy?
Legal Q&A: Rerunning syndicated columns
Q: Is it OK to rerun syndicated columns that you originally paid for (for instance old Louis Grizzard columns that had run in our papers a long time ago)?
Legal Q&A: Obtaining student records
Q: Can I obtain student records from a local public school pursuant to a S.C. FOIA request?
Legal Q&A: Liability of public bodies
Q: Can fulfilling an S.C. FOIA request result in liability for public bodies?
Legal Q&A: Photographing private property
Q: A local business is not letting our photographer take a photo of a sign on the outside of the building, which says they are closed to do training. Can we insist on taking that photo from their parking lot?
Legal Q&A: Suing a public body from out-of-state
Q: Can I sue a public body for a SCFOIA violation regarding a request for information if I am a resident of another state?
Legal Q&A: Search and retrieval fees
Q: Does a public body have to charge for the fees associated with search, retrieval, and redaction of records in fulfilling a FOIA request?
Legal Q&A: Right to inspect
Q: Do you have to be a member of the press to inspect incident reports, the minutes from a public meeting, booking/detention information, or all documents that were distributed to or reviewed by a public official during a public meeting?
Legal Q&A: Written FOIA requests
Q: Is a written FOIA request necessary to see records that were distributed to or reviewed by an elected official during a public meeting?
Legal Q&A: Recording public officials
Legal Q&A: Recording public officials (Feb. 2018) Q: Can you record public officials on public property? By SCPA Attorney Taylor Smith A: Yes. The rights under the First Amendment are not absolute but assuming the act of recording does not substantially interfere with the public official’s performance of his or her...