Valerie L. Hughes Of Counsel

From Washington, D.C. to Washington state, the manner in which government officials and employees create and store business records is making headlines.

In Neighborhood Alliance of Spokane County v. County of Spokane, the Washington Supreme Court clarified two topics previously unresolved in Washington: what constitutes an adequate search for records in response to a Public Records Act ("PRA") request and the scope of permissible discovery in PRA lawsuits. The Court held that a public entity must undertake a search “reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents,” and that discovery is permitted into any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the subject matter of the lawsuit.

A recent Washington Supreme Court decision, Bellevue School District v. E.S., held that neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Washington State Constitution requires a school district to provide an attorney to a student at an initial truancy hearing.

In Mechling v. City of Monroe, the Washington Court of Appeals ruled that public agencies must provide nonexempt public records in electronic format, upon request, when "reasonable and feasible" to do so.