ARTICLE OF THE DAY E-mails off limits in FOIA request Just because personal e-mails were retained within a public school district's computer system doesn't make them "public records" under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), said the Michigan Court of Appeals. Yet, according to governmental affairs attorney Arthur H. Siegal (pictured), under that logic, a dangerous precedent has been set regarding FOIA-related matters -- and blurs the line as to what is and isn't considered a public record. "Effectively, if you ask for e-mails, and the governmental body says, 'No, these are personal,' that's the end of the discussion," said Siegal, of Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C., who represented the counter-plaintiff. "There's no way to find out anything further." But that wasn't the issue at all in the decision -- especially with the "internal union communications," which were the records in question, said counter-defendant's attorney Kathleen C. Boyle of Okemos-based White Schneider Young & Chiodini PC.
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK Hitting home runs In mediation, lawyers and mediators help negotiate resolutions that we think should leave parties satisfied and thankful for our efforts. We hope that, for the money and effort, mediation will produce higher levels of satisfaction compared to trial courts and traditional negotiation. But we know from experience that parties do not always feel as satisfied about their settlement -- and us -- as we hoped. Why isn't settlement alone enough to ensure party satisfaction? Grand Rapids ADR specialist Dale Ann Iverson explains more.
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