Court Proceedings

(a)Any person making a request in any agency for public records pursuant to § 10103 shall be deemed to have exhausted his administrative remedies with respect to such request if the agency fails to comply with the applicable time limit provisions of that Section.

(b)Any person may institute proceedings for injunctive or declarative relief or writ of mandate in the Superior Court of Guam to enforce that person’s right to inspect or to receive a copy of any public record or class of public records under this Chapter. The times for responsive pleadings and for hearings in these proceedings shall be set by the judge of the Court with the object of securing a decision as to these matters at the earliest possible time.

(c)Whenever it is made to appear by verified petition to the Superior Court of Guam that certain public records are being COL5/8/2020 CH. 10 SUNSHINE REFORM ACT OF 1999 improperly withheld from a member of the public, the Court shall order the officer or person charged with withholding the records to promptly disclose the public record or show cause why the person should not do so. The Court shall decide the case after examining the record in camera, papers filed by the parties and any oral argument and additional evidence as the Court may allow. The burden is on the agency to sustain its action. All records shall be presumed public and the burden of establishing that a document or record is private shall be upon the agency or person claiming that the document on record should not be disclosed or inspected.

(d)Except as to cases the Court considers of greater importance, proceedings before the Superior Court, as authorized by this Section, and appeals therefrom, take precedence over all cases and shall be assigned for hearing and trial or for argument at the earliest practicable date and expedited in every way.

(e)If the Court finds that the public official’s decision to refuse disclosure is not justified under this Chapter, the Court shall order the public official to make the record public. If the judge determines that the public official was justified in refusing to make the record public, the Court shall return the item to the public official without disclosing its content with an order supporting the decision refusing disclosure.