Delaware seeks to shield public records from nonresidents
PHILADELPHIA - Delaware officials asked a federal appeals court Thursday to let them keep public records beyond the reach of nonresidents.
A New York consumer activist is fighting to learn details of the state’s $484 million settlement with a finance company over predatory lending. The finance company was Household International, now owned by HSBC and called HSBC Finance Corporation.
The Delaware attorney general denied the request on grounds that the state’s Freedom of Information Act only covers state residents, but a federal judge last year found the practice unconstitutional.
Deputy Attorney General W. Michael Tupman told the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday that the law is designed to let state “citizens” alone participate in the state’s political and legal process.
About a dozen other states have similar language in their open-records laws, but most interpret “citizens” to mean U.S. citizens, said lawyer David Vladeck of the Georgetown University’s Law Center Institute for Public Representation.
Household - HSBC Watch supports Mr. Lee’s efforts. With so many corporations incorporated in Delaware the state will come under more pressure.
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Lee investigates issues ranging from low-income housing to the environment to Wal-Mart’s business practices. In 2003, he asked for details of the settlement involving Household International, now part of HSBC, because he wanted to know why the settlement covered only loans made through banks, and not those sold through brokers.
According to Lee, Delaware officials said they had not received many complaints about broker cases, a claim he hoped to test by reviewing all of the Household complaints filed with the state.
“We want the complaints that led to the settlement so we could see if they served the people well or sold the people out,” Lee said after Thursday’s court session.
Delaware’s reasons for refusing to allow out-of-state residents access to its public documents appeared to mystify a panel of 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges Thursday.
In court papers, Delaware officials have argued that the residency restriction on the state’s Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, helps “define the political community and strengthen the bond between citizens and their government officials.”
“What does that even mean?” asked Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry.
Deputy Attorney General W. Michael Tupman attempted to answer, but the cross-examination left him stammering.
The arguments came during Delaware’s appeal of a ruling last year by U.S. District Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr., who found the restriction was unconstitutional.