Monday, June 1, 2009

Request for Judicial Records Must be in Writing

Affirming the circuit court's order denying access to judicial records, in Morris Publishing Group, LLC v. Florida (1D09-1474), the First DCA held:
Rule 2.420(f)(2) provides that "[r]equests for access to records shall be in writing and shall be directed to the custodian." The records of the circuit court proceedings before us do not reflect that Morris has complied with this writing requirement. Although denial of relief for this reason may appear to place form over substance, the presiding circuit judge twice stated at a hearing that the court could best consider petitioner’s arguments if reduced to writing. We therefore conclude that the instant petition should be denied because the trial court correctly denied the public records request, albeit for the wrong reason. Dade County School Bd. v. Radio Station WQBA, 731 So. 2d 638, 644 (Fla. 1999) ("[I]f a trial court reaches the right result, but for the wrong reasons, it will be upheld if there is any basis which would support the judgment in the record.").

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