Office of Information Practices

U Memo 19-12
May 22, 2019
Attorney-Client Privilege and Reasonable Search

OIP concluded that emails and summaries/tables between the County of Kauai’s Mayor, including his policy team (MAYOR-K), and the Kauai County Attorney and a Deputy County Attorney, relating to the rendering of legal services for a County Project, were not required to be disclosed because the records contained information protected by the attorney-client privilege.

Requester also sought access to other documents referenced in the records disclosed by MAYOR-K to Requester or by another County agency, which MAYOR-K did not disclose on the basis that it did not maintain them.  After reviewing the steps taken to locate the records, OIP concluded that MAYOR-K conducted a reasonable search for those records in its office and could not locate them.  An agency is not required to contact other agencies to search their records in responding to a record request.  OIP therefore found that MAYOR-K’s response that it did not maintain those records was proper.