O'Neill v. City of Shoreline

¶1 This case allows us to consider whether metadata is a public record that must be disclosed under the Public Records Act (PRA), chapter 42.56 RCW. This is a matter of first impression before this court. We affirm the Court of Appeals and hold that metadata associated with public records is subject to disclosure under the PRA.

FACTS

¶2 On September 14, 2006, Diane Hettrick (a private citizen) wrote an e-mail to Lisa Thwing (also a private *142citizen) and possibly others. The relevant portion of the e-mail stated:

Hi folks,

My dear friend, Beth O’Neill has asked me to pass along information about…