Any party aggrieved by the decision of the Supervisor of Public Records may obtain judicial review of the ruling pursuant to the Massachusetts Administrative Procedure Act, G.L. c. 30A, § 14. See, e.g., Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp. v. Chief of Police of Worcester, 58 Mass. App. Ct. 1 (2003). “In any court proceeding . . . there shall be a presumption that the record sought is public, and the burden shall be upon the custodian to prove with specificity the exemption which applies.” G.L. c. 66, § 10(C); see also Att’y Gen. v. Collector of Lynn, 377 Mass. 151, 153, 385 N.E.2d 505, 507 (1979).
The Public Records Law does not confer on the public a right to intervene in an ongoing litigation for the purpose of gaining access to records filed or exchanged in that action. Commonwealth v. Fremont Inv. & Loan, 459 Mass. 209, 217, 944 N.E.2d 1019, 1025 (2011). However, permissive intervention may be available (independent of the Public Records Law) to a third party seeking to challenge the breadth of a protective order entered in court. Id., 459 Mass. at 218, 944 N.E.2d at 1026 (noting that trial judge has “considerable discretion in deciding whether permissive intervention is appropriate”).