{"id":589,"date":"2018-04-04T16:08:13","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T20:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/?p=589"},"modified":"2018-04-04T16:09:55","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T20:09:55","slug":"private-texts-public-records-nevada-public-records-act-and-personal-cellphones-used-for-public-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/2018\/04\/04\/private-texts-public-records-nevada-public-records-act-and-personal-cellphones-used-for-public-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Private Texts, Public Records: Nevada Public Records Act and Personal Cellphones Used for Public Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel B. Heidtke<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"The Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA), NRS \u00a7\u00a0\u00a7\u00a0239.001 et seq.<\/em>, requires that \u201cpublic books and public records\u201d must be open at all times during office hours to inspection by any person.\u00a0 But, what is a \u201cpublic record\u201d and what makes a record, \u201cpublic\u201d?\u00a0 On March 29, 2018, the Nevada Supreme Court addressed that issue and more by adding to its growing list of case law on the NPRA in Comstock Residents Association, et al. v. Lyons County Board of Commissioners, <\/em>Case No. 70738, 134 Nev. Adv. Op. 19 (2018) (\u201cLyons County Board<\/em>\u201d).\u00a0 In Lyons County Board<\/em>, the Court built upon its prior opinion in Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept. v. Blackjack Bonding, Inc.<\/em>, 131 Nev. 80 (2015) and further explained that an otherwise \u201cpublic record\u201d does not become \u201cprivate\u201d simply because it is maintained in or upon private property.\u00a0 Thus, the Lyons County commissioners\u2019 private cellphones and email accounts constituted public records subject to disclosure so long as the records maintained on otherwise private devices and accounts concerned \u201cthe provision of public service.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why does this matter?<\/em>\u00a0 On a macro level, robust public records laws (like the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. \u00a7 552 et seq.<\/em>), \u201censure[s] an informed citizenry, vital to \u2026 a democratic society[.]\u201d\u00a0 NLRB v. Robbins Tire Co.<\/em>, 437 U.S. 214, 242 (1978).\u00a0 On a micro level, public records can be a valuable resource in litigation \u2013 including litigation amongst private parties, which does not involve any governmental agency.\u00a0 For example, certain amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect in December 2015.\u00a0 Among those amendments was a revision to FRCP 26(b)(1), which now provides that discovery in civil litigation in federal courts is \u201cproportional to the needs of the case[.]\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps a party is not able to satisfy this proportionality requirement with respect to a request for certain documents or information for any number of reasons (e.g., the party\u2019s claim is weak, or the amount at issue is limited and complying would be overly burdensome).\u00a0 If a document or information is held by a governmental agency, then a party may be able to obtain the document or information using a request through the NPRA or FOIA, even though that party is unable to use traditional discovery methods.\u00a0 As the saying goes, when a door closes, search for a window.<\/p>\n

Back to Lyons County Board<\/em>.\u00a0 The Nevada Supreme Court explained that the production of public records can be compelled even where such records are in the possession of private parties, and even in instances where the record is not open for immediate inspection at a governmental office (e.g., individual emails sent to a government official).\u00a0 The key issue, the Court explained, was whether the information or documents sought were records of a governmental entity performing \u201ca service rendered in the public interest[.]\u201d\u00a0 If yes, and the requested public records can be generated and obtained by a governmental entity, then the burden will shift to the government entity to present, with particularity, the grounds upon which a given public record is exempt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel B. Heidtke The Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA), NRS \u00a7\u00a0\u00a7\u00a0239.001 et seq., requires that \u201cpublic books and public records\u201d must be open at all times during office hours to inspection by any person.\u00a0 But, what is a \u201cpublic record\u201d and what makes a record, \u201cpublic\u201d?\u00a0 On March 29, 2018, the Nevada Supreme Court … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Private Texts, Public Records: Nevada Public Records Act and Personal Cellphones Used for Public Service”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[774,770,771,773,772],"ppma_author":[878],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infotechtelecom","tag-comstock-residents-association-et-al-v-lyons-county-board-of-commissioners","tag-daniel-b-heidtke","tag-nevada-public-records-act","tag-private-cellphones","tag-public-records"],"authors":[{"term_id":878,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"duanemorris3","display_name":"Duane Morris","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/843ff6e7a8fe5fc92109b47a45f34b6cf0ea499e6e788db23456c838b0ae6747?s=96&d=blank&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/techlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}