N.C. Court of Appeals dismisses public records action against Assistant Director of Administrative Office of the Courts

In the suit, plaintiff, a former Durham County district attorney, sought to obtain emails related to her service from the Administrative Office of the Courts. The suit named the Assistant Director of the AOC as a defendant in both his individual and official capacity.

The trial court dismissed the case. The appeals court affirmed the dismissal.

North Carolina’s Public Records law requires a custodian of public records to permit inspection of those records. The law provides that in order to compel compliance, a party can sue a custodian in the custodian’s official capacity. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-6(a). Thus, the court affirmed dismissal of the action against the Assistant Director in his individual capacity.

The court went on, however, to affirm dismissal of the action against the AD in his official capacity, as well.

The defendant had argued that he was not the custodian of all the emails, but that the multitude of employees of the AOC were each the custodian of their own emails. The court rejected this argument. The court relied instead on N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-2, which provides that “[t]he public official in charge of an office having public records shall be the custodian thereof.” The court then concluded that the Assistant Director of the AOC is not in charge of the AOC’s records, the Director is. The court wrote:

Thus, the parties herein have misinterpreted North Carolina’s public records law. Moreover, Plaintiff failed to pursue her action against the public official in charge of AOC’s public records, who is the custodian thereof. Plaintiff’s suit against Defendant in his official capacity is without merit and was properly dismissed.

The full opinion can be accessed here.