Records Refusal?

Empower Texans, Inc. v. Dallas County involved open records request to Dallas County government. The panel majority held that “as a matter of law, the County’s conditional compliance by notifying Empower of the estimate costs for manipulation of data in order to redact and produce the electronic documents for inspection did not constitute a refusal to provide the requested information under [the statute] for purposes of waiving governmental immunity.” A dissent saw matters otherwise “[b]ecause the statute authorizes neither the conversion of files, the demand for payment of same, nor the resulting delay ….” No. 05-20-00546-CV (July 15, 2022) (mem. op.).