Inkpen v. Roberts

OPINION BY

Judge SIMPSON.

This certified interlocutory appeal raises an issue of first impression: whether mortgages and deeds filed in the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds office are “public records” under the statute commonly known as the Right to Know Act (Act) 1 such that duplication costs are limited by Section 7 of the Act? 2 We hold those documents do not fall within the Act’s definition of public records, and pre-existing statutes control the cost of duplication.

In early March 2003, the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds (Recorder) received a written request under the Act from Norman…