I have been having issues with a local New York village for several years regarding FOIL. I have filed and been successful in Article 78 proceedings previously.
Currently I have been repeatedly denied access to records I requested by letter and email because I have refused to fill out a certain village-prescribed FOIL request form. I have read Committee on Open Government opinions on the point that an agency or municipality cannot require a FOIL requester to use a prescribed form, as long as a letter or other means of request meets the requirements and provides the information needed to search for the records. The village continues to refuse me the opportunity to review the information until I fill out their form.
I am planning to file an Article 78 on the matter, but I want to ask whether I am correct that I don’t have to fill out the village-prescribed form, and whether you are aware of any case law supporting my position.
Our understanding, based on opinions by the Committee on Open Government, is that an agency cannot require that a FOIL request be made on a particular form that they require.
While this is the opinion of the Committee on Open Government, we are not aware of any court decisions that have addressed this issue.
We have had this come up on our own FOIL requests, and we have filled out forms that agencies requested in order to move a request along.
You have to pick your battles when it comes to FOIL requests. We choose not to fight about a form, and to save our energy to fight about the denial of requests.
Certainly the path you take is up to you.
