Delaware Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Delaware, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a Delaware school district charge a FOIA requester for staff time spent deciding which emails contain privileged legal advice?
No. The district's proposed review required a staff member to judge which email passages contained privileged legal advice. That was legal review under FOIA, even though the reviewer was not an…
Can a Delaware public body hold a budget workshop without an agenda and leave a project vote out of its minutes?
No. The Trustees of the New Castle Common had to post an agenda for their budget workshop and keep minutes that accurately reflected what happened. The AG found both requirements violated, but…
Can Delaware's Environmental Appeals Board withhold appeal filings from a nonlitigant under FOIA's pending litigation exemption?
The Board could not justify this denial by pointing only to pending appeals. Applying a recent Delaware Superior Court decision, the AG held that the pending litigation exemption did not apply to…
Can I get copies of my own Delaware 911 calls through a county FOIA request?
Not through the FOIA request considered here. A Delaware statute makes 911 call recordings and information supplied during a call confidential, subject to specific release provisions. The AG found…
Must a Delaware city use FOIA to identify the legal basis for removing signs from land it calls a public right of way?
FOIA required a reasonable search for the existing records identified in the request, and the AG found that Rehoboth Beach had made one. It did not require the city to identify which documents…
Can Delaware State Police withhold records explaining why a license plate reader camera was put in my neighborhood?
In this petition, yes. The Delaware AG found no FOIA violation when State Police withheld records supporting one camera's placement, because sworn statements tied that camera to a criminal…
Did broken online links at a Delaware utility-rate comment session violate open-meeting FOIA?
No FOIA open-meeting violation was found. Only two of the Public Service Commission’s five members attended the rate-case comment session, and the AG concluded it was not a public-body meeting under…
Can a Delaware town charge a FOIA requester for contractor review, police review, and file delivery?
The AG found that Dagsboro had not justified three disputed parts of its FOIA cost estimate: police and contractor review, possible overlapping work, and file processing and delivery. Review to…
Does Delaware FOIA require a fire commission to produce hiring score sheets it says do not exist?
No. The AG found that the State Fire Prevention Commission adequately searched for requested Fire School director hiring records and supported its statement that further records did not exist with…
Can Delaware withhold its list of large corporate franchise-tax filers from a FOIA request?
Yes, for the lists requested here. The AG found that Delaware’s large-corporate-filer list was compiled from annual franchise-tax report information protected by statute. It concluded that the…
Can Dover withhold license plate camera locations and search audit reports under Delaware FOIA?
The AG found Dover had not justified withholding the locations of its plainly visible license plate cameras, and recommended disclosing them. It upheld withholding the Network Audit Report because…
Must a Delaware city post a downloadable FOIA request form on its website?
No. The AG found that Delaware FOIA permits copies of its standard request form on a public body’s website but does not require a city to publish a separate form there. A conforming written request…
Can Delaware police withhold records about a suspect’s immigration status after an investigation closes?
In this petition, yes. The AG found that records about a person involved in a State Police criminal investigation fell within Delaware FOIA’s investigatory-files exemption, which survives the…
Did Delaware’s Birth to Three council violate FOIA by posting a meeting agenda and draft minutes late?
Yes. The AG found that the council failed to post its July meeting agenda with a physical anchor location on time and missed the deadline to publish draft minutes from its April meeting. The office…
What must a Delaware public body include in an affidavit to prove it adequately searched for requested records?
It must provide enough sworn detail to show who was consulted, at least by position, when the search occurred, what records were reviewed, and the results. The Housing Authority's generalized…
What notice must a Delaware public body give when it needs more than 15 business days to complete a FOIA request?
It must cite an authorized reason for the extension and give a good-faith estimate of the additional time needed. Wilmington violated FOIA by leaving searches open because staff were on leave…
Can a person who is not a Delaware citizen use Delaware FOIA to require a state university to release records?
No. Delaware FOIA guaranteed access to public records only to Delaware citizens, so the University had no legal obligation to provide the requested emails to a noncitizen. The opinion did not decide…
Must a Delaware city manually combine towing data from separate databases and paper files to answer a FOIA request?
No. Wilmington provided a bulk export that was available, but FOIA did not require it to manually assemble and integrate additional towing information stored in separate databases and hard-copy records.
Does a Delaware housing authority prove an adequate FOIA search by saying it searched all relevant files without identifying them?
No. The authority's affidavit relied on generalized statements about searching relevant files and did not identify the locations searched or give specific results, so it failed to meet its burden.
Did Wilmington violate Delaware FOIA by failing to respond to a request for parking-enforcement contracts within 15 business days?
Yes. Wilmington did not respond within the required timeframe and provided no evidence to the Attorney General that it had complied, so the city failed to meet its burden of proof.
Must a Delaware town disclose volunteer committee members' personal email addresses if it released them in the past?
No. Committee members had a privacy interest in their personal email addresses, direct email access did not significantly advance public understanding of the committees, and earlier disclosure did…
Can a Delaware city withhold police-union grievances as personnel files or collective-bargaining records?
Not on the evidence Lewes provided. The city did not show that the grievances were personnel files, part of labor negotiations or collective bargaining, or records of a covered disciplinary investigation.
Did the Delaware Department of Correction violate FOIA by failing to respond to a request for prison incident records within 15 business days?
Yes. DOC did not respond within the statutory timeframe and gave the Attorney General no evidence of compliance, so it did not meet its burden of proof.
Did Frederica violate Delaware FOIA when a requester said she never received the town's response to permit-record requests?
No. The town clerk swore that she sent a response and cost estimate within 15 business days and resent the material after learning it had not arrived.
Can New Castle County deny a Delaware FOIA request from an out-of-state reporter for records from a police death investigation?
Yes. The record did not establish that the requester or his organization was a Delaware citizen, and the requested police-response materials also belonged to an exempt investigatory file.
Does a Delaware school district violate FOIA by not producing a direct vendor contract when sworn evidence says no such contract exists?
No. The district's chief financial officer swore that the district had no direct contract with the vendor and instead used another school district's contract, so there was no responsive direct…
Can a Delaware city permanently withhold old executive-session minutes because they contain attorney-client communications?
Not automatically. Newark failed to show that releasing the requested executive-session minutes would still defeat the sessions' lawful purpose; relying on attorney-client privilege alone did not…
Can Delaware State Police withhold search-warrant and phone-forensics records after an investigation ends without charges?
Yes. The requested records were tied to a specific police investigation and therefore fell within the investigatory-files exemption, which continues to apply after an investigation closes.
Can Delaware's Department of Correction extend a FOIA email review without a completion estimate and charge for exemption review?
No. DOC violated FOIA by omitting a good-faith estimate of when its email review would finish, failing to address non-email portions of three requests, and proposing fees for reviewing records for…
Can a small Delaware police department deny an email request because searching accounts is burdensome and some messages may be exempt?
No. The town had to determine whether responsive emails existed and review them rather than deny the request in full based on workload, security concerns, or the likelihood that many messages were exempt.
Can a Delaware city hide the identity of a private citizen whose safety proposal influenced a public works project?
Not in this case. A person who voluntarily raised a public-safety issue and proposed a solution had only a minimal privacy interest, which was outweighed by the public's interest in knowing who…
Can a Delaware city withhold the list of outside agencies that can access its automated license plate reader system?
Not on the grounds Milford offered. The city failed to show that its list of agencies with access to the license plate reader system belonged to a specific investigatory or intelligence file.
Did Milford violate FOIA by missing a virtual attendee's raised hand during public comment?
Yes. The Delaware AG concluded that Milford violated FOIA when a technical or staffing failure prevented a virtual attendee with a raised hand from giving public comment.
Could Rehoboth Beach withhold police reports, dispatch audio, and body-camera footage from a trespass response?
Yes. The Delaware AG concluded that the requested police records were exempt investigatory files and that the remaining request did not sufficiently identify particular policies or guidance.
Did Lewes violate FOIA by temporarily removing a public meeting video from its website?
No. The Delaware AG concluded that FOIA required meeting minutes but did not require the commission to record its meeting or keep the video posted online.
Could Greenwood discuss employee premium pay and handbook changes in a closed executive session?
Not on the record presented. The Delaware AG found that Greenwood failed to show that employee premium pay and handbook changes fit the personnel exception for executive session.
Could Newark withhold police incident records and charge review fees for the nonexempt parts of a broad Delaware FOIA request?
Yes. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that Newark properly withheld police incident materials under the investigatory-files exemption and properly charged for processing non-investigatory…
Could Clayton deny access to Flock camera data and police-vehicle GPS records under Delaware FOIA?
The Town did not justify withholding Flock camera data for specified plates and Town vehicles, because vendor-held data owned and controlled by the Town could still be a public record and internal…
Could a Delaware school district withhold vendor contracts because the requester might have copies and rely on a finance-only records search?
No. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that the District could not withhold vendor contracts merely because the requester might have obtained them elsewhere, and its affidavit did not establish…
Could Rehoboth Beach withhold building-permit and ADA records when the requester had threatened related litigation?
Yes. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that the potential-litigation exemption covered the full request because the requester had sent objective written notices of imminent legal action and…
Could New Castle County withhold a police report from the person who made the 911 complaint?
Yes. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that the police report and related records were exempt investigatory files in their entirety. The requester's status as the complainant, the absence of a…
Could Blades vote to hire a plumbing company after an executive session when the public agenda mentioned only personnel?
No. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that the Town Council's agenda did not give sufficient notice that it would vote to hire a plumbing company after a personnel executive session. The AG…
Could New Castle County withhold SWAT reports, body-camera video, and 911 calls from the resident whose home was entered?
Yes. The Delaware AG concluded that, to the extent New Castle County held records responsive to the request about a police operation at the resident's home, they were investigatory files exempt…
Could Delaware DHSS release another person's public-assistance applications, addresses, eligibility records, and caseworker notes?
No. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that 31 Del. C. § 1101 broadly prohibited disclosure of information about a person who applied for or received specified public assistance, including…
Could New Castle County withhold sewer-backup and contractor records after the homeowner said a lawyer had permission to sue?
Yes. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that formal claim notices and an email stating that counsel had the green light to sue made litigation reasonably foreseeable. Because all requested…
Could Delaware State Police withhold dash-camera video, body-camera video, and incident reports from a traffic stop that led to a pending court case?
Yes. The Delaware Attorney General concluded that an affidavit established both a pending Justice of the Peace Court case arising from the traffic stop and a relationship between that litigation and…
How long can a Delaware state agency take to respond to a FOIA request if it needs extra time to gather records?
A Delaware agency can take extra time beyond the initial 15 business days if records are voluminous, need legal review, or are archived, but it must keep giving good-faith updated time estimates.…
Can Delaware State Police deny a request for 2025 expungement statistics without sworn evidence of its search?
The AG found a FOIA violation because DSP did not support its denial with sworn statements, including evidence of an adequate search. It did not decide whether DSP held the requested 2025 figures or…
When a Delaware city reschedules a council meeting because of bad weather and gives less than 7 days' notice for the new date, is 'inclement weather' enough of an explanation to satisfy FOIA, or does the city have to also explain why the actual agenda items can't wait?
The AG found a FOIA violation. Bad weather reasonably explained cancelling the original meeting, but Dover’s new notice did not explain why the Council needed to consider its agenda items, including…
If I ask a Delaware city for the rules governing how its council moves a bill from committee to a vote, and the city says 'we don't have a separate document for that,' is that a FOIA violation?
No, as long as the city's response is clear that no separate document exists. The City of Dover told Shyanne Miller that it conducts its legislative proceedings 'in accordance with the City of Dover…
After a Delaware AG opinion ordered the City of Dover to re-review its withholdings of records about the police chief and the FOP, was the City's later use of attorney-client privilege and the personnel file exemption proper, and did the City have to file an affidavit with its supplemental production?
The AG found no FOIA violation in Dover’s supplemental response. A sworn statement from the City Solicitor supported the attorney-client privilege and the withholding of two confidential HR emails…
When a Delaware county uses code enforcement against a homeowner over multiple years, can the homeowner FOIA the search warrant materials, hearing recordings, and internal communications, or are those covered by the investigatory files exemption?
The AG found no FOIA violation as to the second through fourth groups of records Coleman challenged. The County showed an adequate search for hearing and officer-assignment materials; it had already…
When a Delaware public body needs more than 15 business days to respond to a FOIA request, what does it actually have to tell the requester, and can it require prepayment of search fees?
A public body extending a FOIA response must give an authorized reason and a good-faith estimate of the additional time needed. DOC gave an acceptable storage reason for its email search but no time…
Can a Delaware citizen get body-camera footage, dash-cam video, and police reports from a traffic incident the citizen was personally involved in once the investigation is closed?
The AG found no FOIA violation. Moore requested records of a traffic incident and possible other traffic stops. The AG found they concerned law enforcement encounters and were exempt as…
Once a Delaware public body has invoked the pending-litigation FOIA exemption to refuse a request, can the requester get around the exemption by re-submitting essentially the same request with a different topic label?
Not entirely, but the public body still has to do work. Sussex County had previously denied an offshore-wind-related records request; the requester then filed a new request with the topic changed to…
If a Delaware public body's hybrid (in-person plus virtual) meeting cuts off a remote attendee in the middle of public comment, has the public body broken the open-meeting law?
The AG found a FOIA violation because the Committee supplied only unsworn statements about the disconnection during Amy Roe’s public comment. A technical problem does not itself invalidate a virtual…
When a Delaware public body says it has no records responsive to a FOIA request but the requester sees evidence the records exist, what kind of evidence does the public body have to put forward to prove its search was adequate?
The public body must state under oath what it did to look for responsive records and what the search found, unless the request itself clearly seeks records outside FOIA. The AG found DIAA had not…
If a Delaware county says it has no more records about a property easement but I think there must be more, what does the county have to do to prove it really searched?
The county must show under oath what it did to look for responsive records and what the search found. New Castle County submitted affidavits from Public Works, Parks and Land Use staff describing…
Can I get Delaware State Police body camera footage of my own arrest after the case is closed?
The AG found no FOIA violation in DSP’s denial of James Eaves’s body camera request. The footage concerned a law enforcement encounter and was part of an investigatory file under § 10002(o)(3). That…
Can Delaware require me to pay a contractor-based FOIA estimate before retrieving school plans?
Yes, Delaware permits a public body to collect all estimated FOIA fees in advance, so the Department of Education did not violate FOIA on that point. The AG did not decide whether this…
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Attorney general opinions in Delaware are written by the Delaware Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.