Energy & Environment Legal Institute v. Attorney General of New York

Free Market Environmental Law Clinic and Energy & Environment Legal Institute filed a proceeding in New York Supreme Court seeking documents from the Office of the New York Attorney General (NYAG) under FOIL. The petitioners said that they sought the correspondence of the attorney general with eight individuals—six private parties, an NYAG employee, and the California attorney general. The groups said the requested correspondence “contained certain keywords relating to the Attorney General’s recent decision to investigate those who disagree with him on climate change and climate change policies.” The NYAG denied the groups’ FOIL request, citing FOIL exemptions for documents subject to attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine and for intra-agency and inter-agency documents. In their lawsuit, the groups contended that NYAG did not have a reasonable basis for withholding the documents.