Sawyer v. Spaulding, 2008 VT 63

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court held that a request for financial records concerning outstanding state-issued checks and warrants was not a request for a "list of names" exempt from disclosure under Vermont's Access to Public Records Act. The court rejected the argument that sorting or compiling information, or creating a list in response to the request, brought the records within the exemption. It reversed the superior court's summary judgment for the Treasurer and remanded the case.

Holdings

1. A request for financial records, even when defined by specified criteria and potentially containing names, is not a request for a list of names under § 317(c)(10).
2. The statutory exemption applies only to lists already compiled or obtained by the agency; an agency's choice to create a list in response to a disclosure request does not bring the requested information within the exemption.
3. The abandoned-property statutes did not bar disclosure because Sawyer sought information about property not yet deemed abandoned, and the Legislature had not imposed a comparable restriction on state-held property that was not yet abandoned.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a request for financial records subject to specified criteria is a request for a list of names within the meaning of 1 V.S.A. § 317(c)(10).
2. Whether the statutory list-of-names exemption encompasses records that an agency would need to sort or compile, or a list that the agency chooses to create in response to a records request.
3. Whether Vermont's abandoned-property statutes required denial of the request or otherwise limited disclosure under the Access to Public Records Act.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded