Energy & Environment Legal Institute v. Attorney General of Vermont

In a case brought under Vermont’s Public Records Law by Energy & Environment Legal Institute seeking communications of the Vermont attorney general regarding potential climate change-related investigations, a Vermont state court ruled that former Attorney General William Sorrell could be deposed on the extent to which he had documents and correspondence on a private email account that related to the plaintiff’s records request. The court said the plaintiff had presented an exhibit that showed Sorrell conducted public business on a private account to at least some extent. The court said paper work kept “in a desk drawer at home rather than at the government office” would not be exempt from public access, “no matter whether that happened unintentionally, negligently, or deliberately”—and indicated that the electronic format of documents would not alter the treatment of documents.

A Vermont Superior Court denied a motion by the Attorney General of Vermont to dismiss an action seeking to compel disclosure of documents under the Vermont Public Records Act. Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and Free Market Environmental Law Clinic had requested emails that included the terms “climate denial” or “climate denier” or the names or email addresses of certain lawyers at environmental nongovernmental organizations or the names or email addresses of the New York State Attorney General (NYAG) or the chief of the NYAG’s Environmental Protection Bureau. The court rejected the attorney general’s defense that the plaintiffs had failed to exhaust administrative remedies, but said that the attorney general had shown that “exceptional circumstances” existed given the breadth of the request and the need for individual review of documents and redaction of privileged material. The court ordered the attorney general to complete its review by October 3, 2016.

Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and Free Market Environmental Law Clinic filed a lawsuit in Vermont Superior Court against the Vermont attorney general under the State’s Public Records Law. The organizations asked the court to require the attorney general’s office to respond to a public records request submitted in May 2016. The organizations asked for emails of the Vermont attorney general and an assistant attorney general that included the terms “climate denial” or “climate denier” or the names or email addresses of certain lawyers at environmental nongovernmental organizations or the names or email addresses of the New York State Attorney General (NYAG) or the chief of the NYAG’s Environmental Protection Bureau.