From the Legal Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel; Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: A township has created a Right to Know request form that must be submitted with all Right to Know requests. A provision in the form requires a requestor to agree to “pay all reasonable legal fees, including attorneys’ fees, of the Township if exceptions are denied or an appeal is denied by the court”. Is this allowed?

A: No. The Right to Know Law, 65 P.S. §66.4-1 permits a court to order sanctions in the form of attorneys’ fees and litigation costs against a requestor (or an agency) if the court finds that a legal challenge was frivolous. It also permits attorneys’ fees to be awarded to a requester (against an agency) where an agency has denied access in bad faith or based upon an unreasonable interpretation of the law.

Only a court can impose this type of sanction based on the facts and circumstances of each individual case. The township’s policy requires a requestor to give up the statutory right to have an impartial court determine whether an appeal was frivolous. Such a requirement is unreasonable and can not be a prerequisite to receiving public records.

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