Manchester plans court action over volume of public-records requests
Manchester officials said July 16 that the city plans to seek injunctive relief in court over what it describes as an ongoing pattern of misuse of New Hampshire’s public-records law.
The city said its elected representatives approved pursuing the court action. The announcement concerns a planned legal step, not a court decision: the available reporting did not identify a filing date, docket number or the specific relief the city would request in an eventual complaint.
City cites 402 line-item requests
Manchester said one unnamed nonresident submitted 402 line-item public-records requests. The city said that total includes 64 departmental requests submitted through 22 request forms since March 2023.
The city also said related requests and communications date to 2019. It characterized the activity as a pattern that burdens municipal operations and city employees.
That characterization is the city’s allegation and has not been adjudicated. The requester was not identified in the available report, and the announcement does not establish that the person violated the law.
Action remains at the planned-filing stage
Manchester has said it intends to ask a court for injunctive relief, but no injunction has been reported as granted. A complaint, if filed, would set out the city’s legal arguments and the remedy it seeks. Court review would occur only after such a filing.
No deadline for a filing was included in the approved reporting. Likewise, the available information does not state whether a court would limit, deny or otherwise address any future request activity.
Public-records framework remains in place
The dispute concerns access to municipal records under New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know Law, RSA 91-A. Manchester’s published Public Access to Records Policy describes the city’s procedures for handling governmental-records requests under that state-law framework.
In announcing the planned litigation, the city said it remains committed to transparency and compliance with lawful public-records requests. The proposed court action therefore does not replace the city’s stated public-records procedures; it is the city’s planned response to the request pattern it described.
The outcome could clarify the limits of a municipality’s response to high-volume Right-to-Know requests and could affect access to Manchester city records. For now, the confirmed development is the city’s approved intention to seek court intervention. The filing, the precise requested relief and any judicial ruling remain unknown.
Sources
- City to ask courts for relief citing excessive public records requests, Manchester Times
- Public Access to Records Policy, City of Manchester, New Hampshire
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