Sage Information Services v. Yakima County
N/AOUTCOME: Settlement providing lifetime access to records requested as well as payment to Sage of attorney's fees and costs.
Facts: Sage makes public records request for the real property database held by the county, in its native electronic format. County responds by offering the records on a CD for $40. County later resc ... inds the offer, refuses to provide the records, and cites several blanket exemptions allegedly applicable to the requested records. County claims that it lacks the technical ability to separate potentially exempt material from material that is not exempt, specifically because of the manner in which it stores its records within the database. Essentially, the county argued it could not provide anything for the same reason it could not provide everything--it argued that it had no way of ensuring that exempt records would not be inadvertently disclosed. Trial court ordered that the county produce the database, but subject to a stipulated temporary protective order, until the technical feasibility issues could be determined by Sage's experts. Following a court-ordered mediation, the County entered into a settlement agreement with Sage that provided Sage with all of the records in electronic form, with the requirement for lifetime access of updated records in electronic form upon request, and a payment of attorney's fees and costs incurred in the litigation to Sage.