Cases, articles and other links

These are some of the cases involving privatization and public access laws cited in this guide:

Allen v. Day, 213 S.W.3d 244 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2006)
Tennessee appeals court rules that a private company operating a stadium under contract with the local sports authority is acting as the "functional equivalent" of government

Atlas Transit, Inc v. Korte, 638 N.W.2d 625 (Wis. Ct. App. 2001)
Wisconsin appeals court says names of contract bus drivers should be released because public interest outweighs privacy interests of drivers

Assessment Technologies of WI, LLC v. WIREdata, Inc., 350 F.3d 640 (7th Cir. 2003)
Chicago-based federal appeals court rules that data being sought through state public records law is not copyrighted nor copyrightable

Bd. of Trustees of Woodstock Academy v. Freedom of Information Comm’n, 436 A.2d 266 (Conn. 1980)
Connecticut Supreme Court rules that school established under a state charter is subject to the state Freedom of Information Act, establishing four-part test to determine if entity is performing a "government function

Canadian Commercial Corp. v. Dep’t of the Air Force, 442 F.Supp.2d 15 (D.C. DC 2006)
Federal trial judge in Washington, D.C., rules that contractor pricing information cannot be released by the Air Force under the federal FOIA's trade secrets exemption

Connecticut Humane Soc. v. Freedom of Information Comm’n, A.2d 395 (Conn. 1991)
In ruling that the humane society is not subject to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act, the state Supreme Court states that a body does not have to meet all four parts of the test established in the 1980 Woodstock Academy case to be subject to the act.

Dean v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., 389 F.Supp.2d 780 (E.D. Ky 2005)
A federal trial court in Kentucky says the federal FOIA's privacy exemption cannot be used to withhold records about an employee from the employee himself

Dong v. Smithsonian Inst., 125 F.3d 877 (D.C. Cir 1997)
Federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., rules that Smithsonian Institution is not an "agency" under the Privacy Act, which borrows its definition from the Freedom of Information Act

Forsham v. Harris, 445 U.S. 169 (1980)
U.S. Supreme Court rules that raw data collected by private physicians for a study performed under a government contract are not subject to release under the federal Freedom of Information Act

Gannon v. Bd. of Regents of the State of Iowa, 692 N.W.2d 31 (Iowa 2005)
Iowa Supreme Court decides that a nonprofit that acts as a university fundraising arm is covered by the state public records act

Hallas v. Freedom of Information Comm’n, 557 A.2d 568 (Conn. App. 1989)
The Connecticut appeals court rules that because a law firm serving as bond counsel does not meet one prong of a four-part test, it is not subject to the state public records law

McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Dep’t of the Air Force, 375 F.3d 1182 (D.C. Cir. 2004)
The Washington, D.C., federal appeals court rules that the FOIA privacy exemption bars the release of some pricing information submitted by a government contractor as part of its bid

State ex rel. Fostoria Daily Review Co. v. Fostoria Hospital Assoc., 531 N.E.2d 313 (Ohio 1988)
The Ohio Supreme Court rules that a nonprofit that leases and runs a once-public hospital is subject to the Public Records Act

State ex rel. Fox v. Cuyahoga Co. Hospital Sys., 529 N.E.2d 443 (Ohio 1988)
The Ohio court rules that a hospital system is a "public institution" subject to Public Records Act

State ex rel. Oriana House v. Montgomery, 854 N.E.2d 193 (Ohio 2006)
Ohio Supreme Court justices create a new four-part test, denying access to the records of a nonprofit that ran a halfway house under a state contract

State ex rel. Repository v. Nova Behavioral Health, Inc., 859 N.E.2d 936 (Ohio 2006)
The Ohio court rules that a contractor providing mental health services is not subject to the open records act

State ex rel. Strothers v. Wertheim, 684 N.E.2d 1239 (Ohio 1997)
Nonprofit county ombudsman office is subject to the Ohio Public Records Act

State ex rel. Toledo Blade Co. v. Univ. of Toledo Found., 602 N.E.2d 1159 (Ohio 1992)
The Ohio Public Records Act applies to a corporation that solicits donations for the University of Toledo

Times of Trenton Publ’g Corp. v. Lafayette Yard Community Dev. Corp., 874 A.2d 1064 (N.J. 2005)
The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that a nonprofit economic development corporation is subject to state public records and open meetings laws

WIREdata, Inc. v. Village of Sussex, 729 N.W.2d 757 (Wis. Ct. App. 2007)
A Wisconsin appeals court rules that records held by government contractors must be turned over in the electronic format sought by the requester

Woznicki v. Erickson, 549 N.W.2d 699 (Wis. 1996)
The Wisconsin Supreme Court establishes that government officials must notify employees before releasing records that could implicate their privacy interests

Articles

Below are some of the news articles mentioned in these stories relating to privatization.

Smithsonian scandals and leadership changes
The Washington Post, Jan. 31, 2007 - present
Several stories by Jacqueline Trescott and James V. Grimaldi documenting the questionable expenses and actions of top Smithsonian Institution officials, prompting Secretary Lawrence Small and others to resign and leading the institution's board to promise more transparency.

Florida's juvenile justice system: Revolving door for fired workers
The Palm Beach Post, Dec. 5, 2004
Juvenile justice workers fired from privately run facilities were rehired at similar facilities unaware of their previous misconduct, reporters Kathleen Chapman and William M. Hartnett revealed.

GSA hired CACI to process suspension and debarment cases
Project On Government Oversight, Feb. 5, 2007
Using the Freedom of Information Act, the organization revealed that a contractor that was almost banned from government contracts was hired to work on contractor discipline cases.

National Zoo cites privacy concerns in its refusal to release animal's medical records
The Washington Post, May 6, 2002
James V. Grimaldi wrote about the newspaper's struggle to gain records from the Smithsonian Institution, which runs the zoo. The records were eventually used by the newspaper in its 2003 investigation of animal deaths at the zoo.

Leftover ice from Katrina relief is headed for a thaw
The Boston Globe, July 18, 2007
Anna Badkhen's story recounted the mishaps with providing ice after Hurricane Katrina, which ultimately led the Federal Emergency Management Agency to melt down millions of dollars worth of ice.

Outsourcing Justice? That's obscene.
The Washington Post, July 15, 2007
Stephen Bates reported on a Justice Department contract that refers citizens who want to report obscenity complaints to an interfaith organization that reports to prosecutors.

Paper, group settle lawsuit
The (Topeka, Kan.) Capital-Journal, March 6, 2007
After being sued by a newspaper, a coalition of school districts agrees it is subject to the Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act.

Other resources

Privatization: Its impact on public records access
A white paper by Harry Hammitt published by the National Freedom of Information Council

Project On Government Oversight contract oversight archive
Links to the organization's reports on federal contracting, including its federal contractor misconduct database

FedSpending.org
A searchable database of federal contracts and grants compiled by OMB Watch