The Virginia FOIA Opinion Archive

County-made maps are protected by copyright laws, and the county, as owner of the copyright has exlusive copying rights. County can charge no more than actual costs for making copies of maps.

Closed Meetings; 2.1-344(b): When Only Two Items on Agenda are Legal Matters, Motion to Confer Privately With Counsel is Valid Under Code sec. 2.1-344(a)(6) Although Whether Both Items or Particular Item Will be Considered is Not Indicated

An executive session/closed meeting based on the legal matters exemption is not justified by an attorney's mere presence in the room

A motion to go into executive/closed session to discuss personnel issues need not identify the identity of the employee to be discussed.

The business address and type of business license granted is not information protected from disclosure by the tax code.

Nonstock homeowners' association not subject to FOIA.

Newsletters prepared by county administrator summarizing issues to be discussed at the next board of supervisors meeting are official records open to the public, even if some of the topics are the proper subject of a closed meeting.

Committees established by bodies subject to FOIA (in this case, the curriculum study committee of a school board) must also comply with the Act.

No other statute prohibits the release of information regarding instances of substandard care in opthalmological services to the state board of optometry.

Circuit court is a public agency under FOIA. Absent a court order, circuit court clerk cannot deny access to divorce files.

As long as no more than two members from any one local governing body particpate in a joint conference with other governing bodies to discuss regional issues, the joint meetings need not comply with FOIA.

Legislatively created political subdivision may discuss bond financing and acquisition of property to be developed and sold for the subdivision. The subdivsion cannot, however, meet in executive session to discuss industrial revenue bond financing of privately owned property for private commercial or industrial purposes.

Just because a contract is a legal document, a redevelopment authority cannot use the legal matters exemption to justify closing a meeting to discusses changes to the contract.

In consolidated cases, several newspapers challenged trial court orders that closed to the public pretrial suppression hearings in three criminal prosecutions. The trial courts had overruled all objections by the newspapers. The Court reversed and vacated the trial court orders. It is unconstitutional to close pretrial hearings without an 'overriding interest articulated in findings,' and those findings should have been aired in a hearing on the merits. In addition, motions to close a hearing should be made in writing and filed with the trial court before the day of the hearing, and the public should be given reasonable notice.

So-called workshop gatherings are still meetings for purposes of FOIA.

Neither applications nor the identities of those applying for nonpaying positions on public boards or commissions are exempt from disclosure as personnel records.

The use of the word teacher in the personnel exemption to open meetings - personnel evaluations - encompasses college faculty members.

Meeting of county government's two-member subcommittee subject to FOIA.

Public salaries over $10,000 subject to mandatory disclosure; salaries under $10,000 may be disclosed voluntarily.

A broker wanted to build a low-income residential development on land neighboring Moore, a U.Va. professor who opposed the development. The broker's application for rezoning was denied. Consequently, he published paid advertisements in The Cavalier Daily (U.Va.’s newspaper) saying Moore did "not want any black people within his sight." Moore brought a libel action alleging the advertisement injured his reputation in the university community. The Court reversed and remanded a trial court judgment for Moore. The advertisement was not defamatory per se, because the allegation of racism was not made in the context of the professor's employment as a teacher. In addition, the Court held that Moore was not a public figure as a professor or an outspoken resident. He would be entitled to recover compensatory damages upon proof of actual injury, including such elements as damage to his reputation and standing in the community, embarrassment, humiliation, and mental suffering.

Official records routinely generated in response to various statutes do not become the working papers of the chief executive officer merely because they are passed on to that office in the ordinary course of business.

Arrest warrants and attached papers containing breath analysis results are exempt under FOIA until executed, and not exempt once executed. Official forms used to record the results of breath analyses are excluded from FOIA when their use is restricted to the preliminary determination to charge suspected violators.

Records regarding the use of a sheriff's special account are official records,even if the account is not funded by the county or state, when the funds are used for a public purpose.

Public body may use real estate exemption to discuss relocation of an arts center onto now-privately owned land. Public body cannot meet in closed session to discuss garbage collection, drainage problems, or the use of a private company for city-owned auto repairs. Legal matters exemption applies to discussion of prosecuting owners of adult entertainment establishments.

Public body may not use the real estate exemption to hold an executive meeting to discuss potential health hazards or government asbestos ratings of publicly owned buildings.