The Office of Open Records has published the Right-to-Know Law Case Law Index, which summarizes and organizes major court decisions regarding Pennsylvania’s RTKL.

I’m very excited to make the RTKL Case Law Index available to the public and hope that it will be a valuable resource for agencies, requesters, and attorneys. It will be updated as new court decisions are issued.

Cases are organized by topic, with a brief summary of both the underlying request and the court decision. It does not include every appellate case and should not be relied upon in place of experienced legal counsel.

Previously, the OOR maintained a list of key RTKL opinions. That document, which is still available, will no longer be updated. (It was organized in reverse chronological order and contained very brief case descriptions.)

Some cases included on the list of key RTKL opinions do not appear in the RTKL Case Law Index. Often, this is because the cases were either effectively overruled or significantly clarified by later decisions. Sometimes, it’s because issues raised were effectively addressed in other cases that are in the RTKL Case Law Index.

We’ve tried to include the most significant court decisions in the RTKL Case Law Index, but of course some judgment calls had to be made.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or criticisms, please let us know.