Can I sue a private government contractor for refusing to product public records? Cloud defense.

[zddoodah]

It's always telling when folks ignore legitimate questions. Let me ask again:

What is the document you are seeking to copy? Is it a document filed in some pending or completed lawsuit or criminal case? If so, are you a party to the case? Why can't you just go down to the courthouse and get a copy?

 

[adjusterjack]

Does not sound like they are operating in good faith to me.

Now you are just ranting and comparing apples to elephants.

You're dealing with a bureaucracy. Whatever rules you are banking on ALWAYS have exceptions. You are NOT going to change that. You either adapt or die (metaphorically).

Answer the questions.

What is the document and why do you want it?

 

[quincy]

The private contractor runs the website that you can download them online. In fact, the document is there but does not work because it's more than 15 pages. For some reason, the program always tries to open up the document in your web browser instead of giving you an option just to download the file to your PC then open it.

So when you click on the public available document, it returns an error message asking you to email their company.

If you email the company, they will immediately close your trouble ticket and refer you to the court clerk. The court clerk when contacted will refer you to the website which is run by these private contractors and the process just repeats itself in a loop.

How can you force a government contractor to fix something on their website when you have already alerted them it does not work, but they don't care?

What options are you left with?

What exactly are you trying to download? Perhaps someone here can assist you in getting the documents. Or you might find it necessary to go to the court.

How many pages are you requesting? Have you paid in advance?

 

[Taxing Matters]

Do you think I have a case against this government contractor for refusing to provide the public record?

Very unlikely. Federal and state open records laws only place an obligation on the government agencies covered by those laws to provide access to those records. That counties or states hire private contractors to maintain their web portal doesn't obligate the contractor to provide you records. Indeed, it's likely that the contractor isn't the one able to decide who may access a particular record. Moreover, unless the state open records laws require that the county have the particular record you want online you are left with the old fashioned paper request and response for this document, and urging county officials to up the limit of the file sizes that may be accessed.

 

[bcr229]

I work in IT.

In a situation like this it's more effective to put pressure on whoever is paying the vendor to provide the service. So, is this vendor working for just the one county? If so complain to the commissioners in that county that the system is faulty and the vendor has refused to fix it.

If the s state is paying so that all counties have their records in the same system then complain to your local state legislators that they're not getting their money's worth.

Once elected officials - especially the ones involved with writing the checks - start getting involved vendors are usually a lot more responsive to complaints.