Office of Information Practices

U Memo 15-9
March 16, 2015
Certified Mail Documents
Not in Agency Records
Requester asked whether the Department of the Attorney General (AG) properly responded under the UIPA when the AG stated that it does not maintain records that are responsive to Requester’s request for his “discovery questions” and the envelope containing his “discovery questions,” both of which Requester asserts that he sent by certified mail to the AG on May 12, 2009. The AG provided Requester with a copy of the only document received from Requester in May 2009, a three-page document titled “Praecipe” that the AG received on May 15, 2009.

Based on the evidence provided by both parties, OIP found that the AG made at least three searches “reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents” in the physical file created for Requester’s litigation case. Its searches uncovered only the “Praecipe” document. Further, while the copy of a certified mail receipt dated May 12, 2009 and the copy of a letter from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to Requester suggested that a delivery was made of mail from Requester to the AG, it cannot be confirmed as to what was actually delivered. As it is unlikely that any additional search in the one relevant file will produce the requested records, OIP concluded that the AG’s response indicating that it does not maintain the requested records was proper.