Lake v. Phoenix
Case Law- Country
- Country Location
Latitude: 39.778231903243785
Longitude: -100.8801256788983
- Country Location (linked Case Law)
- United States
- Decision Date
- Oct 30, 2009
- Case Status
- Closed
- Case Outcome (Procedural)
- Remanded for Decision in Accordance with Ruling
- Case Outcome (Disposition)
- Access to Information Granted
- Keywords
- Access to Information
- Metadata
- Judicial Body
- Supreme Court (court of final appeal)
- Case Number
- CV-09-0036-PR
- Case Summary
The Supreme Court of Arizona held that the City of Phoenix was required to disclose metadata (electronic information concerning the history of an electronic document) pursuant to Arizona's freedom of information law. The City did not contest that the content of the documents constituted a public record, but argued that the metadata did not qualify as a public record subject to disclosure requirements. The Supreme Court reasoned that the metadata in an electronic document is part of the underlying document; it does not stand on its own and when an official uses a computer to make a public record, the metadata forms part of the document as much as words on a page. This analysis was contributed by Right2Info.org.
- Case Significance
The decision establishes a binding or persuasive precedent within its jurisdiction.
- Source URL
- Columbia Global Freedom of Expression