The Virginia State Bar is a public body subject to FOIA. A task force created by a public employee to advise that employee is not a public body. Records in the possession of a public body or employee in the transaction of public business are public records. Questions regarding constitutional separation of powers are beyond the statutory authority of the FOIA Council. Public bodies do not have to create records that do not already exist in order to respond to a records request, but must inform the requester that the records do not exist.
The FOI Advisory Council does not have authority to interpret the First Amendment. A circuit court is subject to FOIA. If the clerk's office maintains a digital database of land conveyances, that database must be made accessible to a requester.
GRACE ARCHER AND JAMES JOHNSON v. D. CARLETON MAYES, JUDGE OF
THE CIRCUIT COURT OF AMELIA COUNTY; S. L. FARRAR, JR., CLERK OF THE
CIRCUIT COURT OF AMELIA COUNTY; JOHN L. SMITH, JAMES E. FORD AND
GRAHAM W. THOMPSON, JURY COMMISSIONERS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF
AMELIA COUNTY
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
Appeal from an order of the Circuit Court of Amelia County. Hon.
William M. Sweeney, judge designate presiding.
