Mr. John Kraft argued that he should not be considered the same person as his colleague when submitting FOIA requests, which would have prevented the Sheriff's Office from denying his request as a 'repeated' one. The Attorney General's office disagreed, finding that because both men work for the same organization, they count as the same 'person' under the law. Consequently, the Sheriff's Office was allowed to deny the request as a repeated, unduly burdensome submission.
Legal question
Whether two individuals associated with the same organization constitute the same 'person' for the purposes of determining if a FOIA request is a 'repeated request' under 5 ILCS 140/3(g).
Holding
The Lake County Sheriff's Office did not violate FOIA by treating the requester and his colleague as the same 'person' for the purposes of denying a repeated request.
Summary
The requester challenged the Lake County Sheriff's Office's denial of a FOIA request as an 'unduly burdensome' repeated request, arguing that he and his colleague were separate 'persons' under the Act. The PAC determined that because the requester and his colleague operate as part of the same organization, the Sheriff's Office properly treated them as the same person under section 3(g).
repeated requestunduly burdensomeFOIA definition of personEdgar County Watchdogs
Reading view (782 words)
This reading view follows the source PDF's positioned text blocks. Page headers, repeated office furniture, and lower-margin notes are kept out of the narrative; source notes are available below. Reconstruction is automatic and imperfect — the PDF is the authoritative version, and it's linked on this page.
Dear Mr. Kraft and Ms. Berkquist:
requests in their capacities with the entity qualify as the same " person" under the definition of that term in FOIA. I11. Att'y Gen. PAC Req. Rev. Ltr. 17798, issued September 21, 2018, at 3- 4 husband and wife who worked for same company and submitted FOIA requests in their capacities as employees were the same " person" and therefore could be treated as a recurrent requester under section 3. 2 of FOIA ( 5 ILCS 120/ 3. 2 ( West 2011 Supp.)) based on the cumulative number of their requests).
The binding opinion Mr. Kraft cited which construed the definition of "person" in FOIA— Ill. Att'y Gen. Pub. Acc. Op. No. 12- 001, issued January 9, 2012— is inapposite. In that matter, the Attorney General concluded that the village had not set forth facts sufficient to demonstrate that a husband and wife who each submitted FOIA requests under their own names qualified as the same " person" for purposes of the recurrent requester provisions in FOIA. Ill. Att'y Gen. Pub. Acc. Op. No. 12- 001, at 6. The Attorney General stated that "[ n] othing in the statute permits the Village to aggregate the separate requests of two individuals for purposes of section 2( g) simply because the individuals are married or live at the same address." Ill. Att' y Gen. Pub. Acc. Op. No. 12- 001, at 6. Here, in contrast, Mr. Kraft' s request was sent from an e- mail address with an illinoisleaks. com domain name and it stated that Mr. Kraft qualified as a member of the news media and a not- for- profit organization. The Edgar County Watchdogs/ Illinois Leaks website states that Edgar County Watchdogs " is a 501( c)( 4) Organization" devoted to fostering " accountability, truth, and transparency in our local governing bodies." 1 Mr. Kraft and Mr. Allen clearly work in tandem on FOIA matters as part of the same organization. Accordingly, the Sheriffs Office' s treatment of Mr. Kraft and Mr. Allen as the same " person" for purposes of section 3( g) of FOIA did not violate FOIA.
The Public Access Bureau has determined that resolution of this matter does not require the issuance of a binding opinion. This file is closed. Please contact me at ( 312) 814- 8413 or at the Chicago address on the first page of this letter if you have questions.
JOSHUA M. JONES Deputy Bureau Chief Public Access Bureau 41654 f 3g rep req proper co
Notes from the original PDF (2)
This determination letter is issued pursuant to section 9. 5( 1) of the Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA) ( 5 ILCS 140/ 9. 5( 1) ( West 2018)). On April 28, 2016, Mr. John Kraft submitted a Request for Review to the Public Access Bureau alleging that the Lake County Sheriffs Office ( Sheriffs Office) improperly denied his February 26, 2016, FOIA request as an unduly burdensome repeated request under section 3( g) of FOIA ( 5 ILCS 140/ 3( g) ( West 2016)). Section 3( g) provides: " Repeated requests from the same person for the same records that are unchanged or identical to records previously provided or properly denied under this Act shall be deemed unduly burdensome under this provision." Mr. Kraft claimed that for purposes of this provision, he is a different " person" from his Edgar County Watchdogs/ Illinois Leaks colleague, Mr. Kirk Allen. Section 2( b) of FOIA ( 5 ILCS 140/ 2( b) ( West 2016)) defines " person" as " any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, organization or association, acting individually or as a group." Under this definition, two individuals who belong to the same entity and submit FOIA 100 West Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601 • ( 312) 814- 3000 • TTY: ( 800) 964- 3013 • Fax: ( 312) 814- 3806 601 South University Ave., Carbondale, Illinois 62901 • ( 618) 529- 6400 • TTY: ( 877) 675- 9339 • Fax: ( 618) 529- 6416
Illinois Leaks, " Edgar County Watchdogs," Contact Us, https:// edgarcountywatchdogs. com/ about- us ( last visited August 28, 2019).