1. Does e-mail constitute a record?

The Supreme Court of Alabama has treated email as public records subject to the Public Records Law. See Tenn. Valley Printing Co. v. Health Care Auth. of Lauderdale County, 2010 ALA. LEXIS 213 (Ala. Oct. 29, 2010) (holding that emails between public employees regarding the sale of public assets was subject to disclosure under the Public Records Law).

Request for emails must be made to the proper custodian of public records, and computer service employees may not be the proper person to provide emails if they are not the custodian of the public records requested. George v. Gassock, CV 07-40 (Cir. Ct. of Morgan County, Ala. June 12, 2007).