WI Supreme Court Holds That “Personal Emails” Are Not Public Records

(7/29/10)  The Wisconsin Supreme Court held in Schill v. Wis. Rapids Sch. Dist., 2010 WI 86, that personal emails on a work email account are not necessarily records requestable by the public.  The statutory definition of a “record” is something that records or preserves information that has been created or kept by a public official, but not “materials which are the personal property of the custodian and have no relation to his or her office.”  Wis. Stat. § 19.32(2).  The court confirmed that using a work email account to send a personal email does not by itself turn the personal email into a public record.  Additional information about electronic records can be found in the Department of Justice Compliance Guide from pages 37 to 43.  The Wisconsin Attorney General also advises in a memorandum that this public records exception, like all others, must be carefully and narrowly construed.

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