NC Open Government

In 2008 Carolinas Healthcare System filed a lawsuit against Wachovia, which was settled in 2012 with a confidential agreement. Attorney Gary Jackson sought a copy of the agreement under the N.C. Public Records Act, which specifically designates settlement agreements as public. CHS declined to provide it and a trial court found it was exempt because the lawsuit was initiated by CHS. On Wednesday the Court of Appeals affirmed that settlement agreements are public records regardless of who initiates the lawsuit. 

In the wake of an exhaustive investigation into acjademic irregularities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chancellor Carol Folt said in October that nine employees would be disciplined or fired. When the university refused to identify the nine employees, in contravention of the Public Records Act and the State Personnel System Act, a coalition of 10 media outlets sued. On Wednesday, the university identified the four employees it is seeking to fire and agreed to identify the other five employees if disciplinary actions are upheld following administrative appeals. 

The Asheville Citizen-Times filed a public records lawsuit Monday against the city of Asheville over recordings made by plain-clothes police officers attending public rallies. The existence of the videos was revealed by the newspaper in September. The city has declined to release them citing the criminal intelligence exemption int the N.C. Public Records Act. 

The Court of Appeals found that an assistant director of the Administrative Office of the Courts was not the custodian of court system emails. It rejected AOC's argument that the individual writers of email were the custodians, and instead found that the director of AOC is. 

Wake Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens ordered UNC Chapel Hill and 10 media outlets that have sued the university to mediate their dispute over public records. Stephens told lawyers for the university he was "troubled" that the chancellor had announced the discipline or firing of nine employees without providing additional information. 

The Burlington Times-News sued Alamance-Burlington School System in October seeking copies of closed-session meeting minutes related to the departure of Superintendent Lillie Cox. Special Superior Court Judge Lucy Inman ruled this week that the records can be withheld, and the newspaper said it would appeal. 

WRAL: The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday released information about what specific pieces of surplus military equipment were provided to local law enforcement agencies across the state. The N.C. Department of Public Safety had previously refused to release the information citing the public records exemption for specific details about security plans.

A coalition of 10 media outlets filed a lawsuit Monday against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over the university's refusal to release information about employees punished or dismissed in the wake of the Wainstein report on academic irregularities. This is the third public records lawsuit against the university since the academic-athletic scandal began in 2010. 

Media outlets asked Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Richard Boney to unseal court orders authorizing the surveillance after the existence of the secret program was revealed by the Charlotte Observer in October. The District Attorney's office must now review hundreds of cases to determine if information was improperly kept from defendants in cases dating back to 2010. 

Under threat of sanction from the State Board of Education, Charter Day School, Inc. finally released salary information to the Department of Public Instruction. Despite Charter Day stamping the information a "trade secret," DPI said it will release the data to the public Monday evening.