{"id":10640,"date":"2017-12-11T05:50:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T05:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=10640"},"modified":"2018-02-07T20:04:24","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T20:04:24","slug":"inquiry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=10640","title":{"rendered":"File Records Requests to Gather All the Facts:"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where<\/em> Are You
\nAcquiring Information From<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Obtain a Police Report<\/a> <\/span>\u2013 or other law enforcement agency.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Perform a FOIA Request<\/span><\/a> \u2013 obtain information and\/or documents from a federal agency.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Obtain Documents pertaining to You<\/span><\/a> \u2013 in accordance with the <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Utilize Effective Terms<\/span>
\nfor Successful Fact-Finding:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Click any of the following titles for full definitions and additional information:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

file<\/a><\/span> \u2013 a lawyer\u2019s complete record of a case.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

inquiry<\/a><\/span> \u2013 A seeking of information; an examination or investigation.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

investigation<\/a><\/span> \u2013 trying to find out the truth about something, such as a crime, accident, or historical issue via a systematic examination of some intellectual problem or empirical question, as by mathematical treatment or use of the scientific method.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

record<\/a><\/span> \u2013 information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that, having been stored in an electronic or other medium, is retrievable in perceivable form.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After Gathering Information<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Provide “Notice”<\/span><\/a> – an essential (required) process to ensure someone(s):<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) has actual knowledge of it;
\n(2) has received information about it;
\n(3) has reason to know about it;
\n(4) knows about a related fact;
\n(5) is considered as having been able to ascertain it by checking an official filing or recording.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

open-meeting law <\/span>–<\/strong> (1972) A statute requiring a governmental department or agency to open its meetings or its records to public access.<\/strong> \u2014 aka sunshine law<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; public-meeting law<\/strong><\/em><\/span>; open-door law<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; freedom-of-access law<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; right-to-know law<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; open-governmental-proceedings law<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; open-and-public-meeting law<\/span><\/strong><\/em> (together with variations replacing law with act or statute or legislation).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from 1 Ann Taylor Schwing, Open Meeting Laws <\/em><\/a><\/span>5 1.1, at 3-4 (3d ed. 2011):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cVarious States lay claim to the first open meeting law. Unlike the broadly applicable open meeting\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>laws now common in the United States, early laws imposed open meeting requirements on specific public entities.\u00a0 A Kansas statute governing school board meetings was enacted in 1868.\u00a0 A Michigan court has identified an open meeting law passed in 1895, requiring public city council meetings. Oklahoma enacted a law governing meetings of county commissioners in 1897.\u00a0 Utah\u2019s first law, governing city councils, was passed in 1898.\u00a0 Florida enacted its first law in 1905. Similar provisions requiring particular public bodies to meet in public predated the enactment of comprehensive open meeting laws in many States.\u00a0 Alabama enacted what some consider the first comprehensive open meeting law in 1915.\u00a0 Even in 1950, Alabama was the only State with a comprehensive statute. By 1959, twenty States had open meeting laws. Fifteen years later, only four States were without some form of open meeting law.\u00a0 Since the enactment of the New York and Rhode Island open meeting laws in 1976, every State has had a generally applicable law requiring open meetings of at least a significant number of governmental bodies.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

open-file discovery<\/span> –<\/strong> (1971) Criminal law<\/em>. A case-specific policy in which prosecutors allow defense counsel to see (but not always to obtain copies of) all the documents in their file relating to the defendant.<\/strong> \u2014 Abbr. OFD<\/span><\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

open-records act<\/span> –<\/strong> (1969) A statute providing for public access to view and copy government records maintained by public agencies.<\/strong> \u2014 aka open-public-records act<\/span><\/strong><\/em>. [1]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

References:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/span><\/span><\/strong> All material throughout this website is pertinent to people everywhere, and is being utilized in accordance with Fair Use<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All above short definitions extrapolated<\/a> from the following law dictionaries:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]: Black\u2019s Law <\/a><\/span><\/strong>Dictionary\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/strong>Deluxe<\/b><\/span><\/em> Tenth<\/b><\/span><\/em> Edition<\/b><\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>by<\/b><\/span><\/strong> Henry Campbell Black, Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner. ISBN: 978-0-314-61300-4<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[2]: Ballantine\u2019s Law <\/a><\/span><\/strong>Dictionary\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/strong>with<\/b><\/span><\/em> Pronunciations<\/b><\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/em>Third Edition<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by James A. Ballantine\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>(James Arthur 1871-1949).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Edited by William S. Anderson.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a9 1969 by THE LAWYER\u2019S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY.\u00a0 Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[3]: Ballantine\u2019s Law <\/a><\/span><\/strong>Dictionary\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/strong>Legal<\/b><\/span><\/em> Assistant<\/b><\/span><\/em> Edition<\/b><\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>by<\/b><\/span><\/strong> Jack Ballantine\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>(James Arthur 1871-1949).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Doctored<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>by\u00a0Jack G. Handler,\u00a0J.D.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a9 1994 Delmar by Thomson Learning.\u00a0 ISBN 0-8273-4874-6.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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