Can You Use a Subpoena to Get Minutes from a Closed Session of a Public Body
My question involves court procedures for the state of: IL
I would like to subpoena closed session meeting minutes of a public entity. The lawyer on the opposing side was on the council (as a member not as their legal council) at the time and would have attended the closed session meetings.
I am not interested in anything except the discussion regarding a certain area.that pertains to the case. Would there be a way to have the judge only look at the documents? Judicial review to read those minutes - if a citizen can't. These meetings were before litigation or potential litigation.
Re: Subpoena Closed Session Minutes of Public Body Can They Refuse
Is the public entity the party that you are suing? If so, then a subpoena is likely not the right way to go to get the documents you seek. Instead, you would do that via discovery. Just because the lawyer on the opposing side was on the council would not make him/her the party that holds the records. Indeed, it would be unusual for that to be the case. Rather, the holder of the records here is likely the public entity itself. And if that is the party that you are suing, then discovery is likely the proper way to get what you are looking for.
In any event, assuming that these records are not protected from disclosure in civil litigation under IL law (and I have no idea if they are as I know nothing about lawsuit or the public entity involved) then generally what you would do is serve the discovery request or subpoena request (as appropriate) and if the opposing party/party being served objects to the release of the records or claims that there is nothing relevant in them, then depending on the nature of the dispute one side or the other may ask the court to undertake an in camera review of the documents. That is a review of the records by the judge outside of the presence of the parties in which the judge can look to see if there is anything relevant in the documents, whether any privilege or immunity applies to them, or whatever the dispute is about.
Re: Subpoena Closed Session Minutes of Public Body Can They Refuse
You are not likely going to get those recordings or minutes of the closed sessions because of the IL Open Public Meetings Act unless this suit is about enforcing the Open Public Meetings Act.
Quote:
(e) Unless the public body has made a determination that the verbatim recording no longer requires confidential treatment or otherwise consents to disclosure, the verbatim record of a meeting closed to the public shall not be open for public inspection or subject to discovery in any administrative or judicial proceeding other than one brought to enforce this Act.
Bolding added.
Sec. 2.06. Minutes; right to speak.
Re: Subpoena Closed Session Minutes of Public Body Can They Refuse
Just Did some reading and seems like some cases they do allow "The court held that the importance of the information outweighed the policies behind the Illinois Open Meetings Act." and the case was about employment so I guess sometimes the court will rule they can be looked at in camera.