Wednesday, June 4, 2003
State of Florida v. City of Clearwater; Times Publishing Co. v. State of Florida

no. 02-1694 & 02-1753

Pinellas County


Times Publishing made a public records request to the City of Clearwater asking for copies all e-mail either sent from or received by the government computers used by two employees. The employees reviewed their respective e-mails and sorted them into two categories, personal and public, and the City provided copies of the e-mails determined to be public. The Times filed an action in the circuit court, arguing that it was entitled to all of the e-mail generated by and stored on the City's computers. The circuit court and district court disagreed. The Second District held that "personal" e-mail falls outside the current definition of "public records" and certified a question of great public importance.