JONESBORO — A lawsuit filed in Clayton County asserts that Clayton County Animal Control veterinary records are open records and should be made available to the public.
The lawsuit filed in August names Clayton County and three open records custodians (in their personal capacities) as defendants.
According to Clayton County Court records, a motion was filed on Dec. 8 by the defendants to dismiss the case. According to Matthew Charles Cardinale, attorney for plaintiff Ann Garner, the deadline to respond to that motion is later this month.
Georgia law states that veterinary records can be withheld because of a personal privacy interest and those records can only be released with the consent of the owners.
The lawsuit claims that since the animals do not have owners and are under the custody of Animal Control there is no personal privacy interest and, therefore, should be made public.
“We maintain there is no personal privacy interest because the government cannot have a personal privacy interest,” Cardinale said in a recent interview.
Cardinale did say that some records were provided to his client — including police reports, incident reports and forms. Garner had filed open records requests in the spring of 2023 to get information on some dogs that had been euthanized by Animal Control.
Cardinale said, to his knowledge, there have not been any prior court decisions on whether government entities can release vet records to the public.
“This could potentially help advocates across the whole state who are trying to obtain records like this,” Cardinale said.
He added that “The public does have an interest in making sure that these animals are getting adequate care because that care is being carried out in the name of the public.”
The lawsuit also deals with how open records are handled through the county’s open records portal, the…
Read the full article here
