Avon v. Freedom of Information Commission

Citations

• 210 Conn. App. 225

Syllabus

The defendant G appealed from the judgment of the trial court sustaining in part the administrative appeal filed by the municipal plaintiffs from the final decision of the defendant Freedom of Information Commission. The commission found that the plaintiffs violated the Freedom of Infor- mation Act (§ 1-200 et seq.) by requiring G to sign an acknowledgement form before releasing copies of public records he had requested, and ordered that the plaintiffs shall not require the signing of such a form as a condition precedent to the inspection or receipt of copies of public records. The trial court affirmed the commission's decision as to the provision of copies, but reversed the commission's order to the extent that it applied to the inspection of original public records. On G's appeal to this court, held that this court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal, as G was not aggrieved by the judgment of the trial court as he failed to demonstrate a specific, personal, and legal interest in the subject matter of the challenged decision; G claimed that the court abused its discretion by holding that an agency may require requestors to sign an acknowledgement form as a condition precedent to the inspec- tion of original public records, but, based on the administrative record and the representations of the parties, it was clear the only issue decided by the commission involved the right to receive and inspect copies of public records, and the only public records sought by G in this matter were copies, such that the court's statements regarding original public records were merely dicta, and its judgment did not diminish any right that the commission's final decision afforded G. Argued September 15, 2021—officially released January 25, 2022