ROOTS & BRANCHES

Late last month brought an e-mail to my inbox with the screaming headline of “We Won Our Lawsuit!”

The e-mail was from a group called “Reclaim the Records” and they were touting having won their fourth Freedom of Information lawsuit to gain free public access to various vital records in New York, in this case the state’s marriage indexes from 1966 to 2017.

I’ll admit that my first thought was “Does Reclaim the Records ever get access to records without a lawsuit?” Because, seriously, that’s all I hear about them doing is suing.

Maybe it’s a New York thing?

Now, full disclosure: there are more than one or two public records custodians whose necks I’ve wanted to wring over the years.

I may have opined on an occasion or two, most of the time under my breath, that the amount of power some clerks have over determining access to their records is sometimes inversely proportional to how much power they should have (Call it the “this is the most power I’m ever going to have in life and I’m going to make the most of it” syndrome).

But somehow I’ve managed to get the records needed one way or another without needing to sue anyone (OK, another full disclosure: One time it did take a county president judge—who in a lot of Pennsylvania counties really IS the most powerful person in the courthouse!—escorting me to the prothonotary’s office to overrule a clerk’s decision not to certify a record).

The e-mail from Reclaim the Records went on to observe that they didn’t receive attorney’s fees as part of the judgment … along with several attendant pitches for donations to fund said legal fees.

Reclaim the Records’ previous lawsuits have been against the New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), which is the parent agency of the New York City Municipal Archives, and two against the New York City Clerk’s Office.

Reading the group’s newsletter does show a degree of non-cooperativeness from officials that is striking, even given the experiences I’ve had that have brought me close to neck-wringing.

Again, maybe it’s a New York thing.

Brooke Schreier Ganz, the president and founder of Reclaim the Records, says that actually lawsuits are the exception rather than the norm. “We often get records released without needing a lawsuit at all—sometimes just a request will do, or if not then a request written on our attorney’s letterhead will sometimes get the ball rolling,” she said.

To learn more about Reclaim the Records, you can go to its website, https://www.reclaimtherecords.org.

Reclaim the Records is a nonprofit, tax-exempt entity and donations to it are tax deductible.