Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American Constitutional form of representative government which holds to the principle that government is the servant of the people, and not the master of them, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of the State of West Virginia that all persons are, unless otherwise expressly provided […]
As used in this article: (1) “Custodian” means the elected or appointed official charged with administering a public body.
(a) Every person has a right to inspect or copy any public record of a public body in this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by section four of this article. (b) A request to inspect or copy any public record of a public body shall be made directly to the custodian of such public […]
(a) Beginning January 1, 2016, each public body that is in receipt of a freedom of information request shall provide information to the Secretary of State relating to, at a minimum, the nature of the request, the nature of the public body's response, the time-frame that was necessary to comply in full with the request; […]
(a) There is a presumption of public accessibility to all public records, subject only to the following categories of information which are specifically exempt from disclosure under this article: (1) Trade secrets, as used in this section, which may include, but are not limited to, any formula, plan, pattern, process, tool, mechanism, compound, procedure, production […]
(1) Any person denied the right to inspect the public record of a public body may institute proceedings for injunctive or declaratory relief in the circuit court in the county where the public record is kept.
Any custodian of any public records who willfully violates the provisions of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $200 nor more than $1,000, or be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than twenty days, or, in the discretion of the court, by […]
Any person who is denied access to public records requested pursuant to this article and who successfully brings a suit filed pursuant to section five of this article shall be entitled to recover his or her attorney fees and court costs from the public body that denied him or her access to the records.
