Section 119.011 Florida Statutes - Public Records

In Shevin v. Byron, Harless, Schaffer, Reid & Assocs., Inc., 379 So. 2d 633 (Fla. 1980), the Court rejected the First District's conclusion that "section 119.011(1) applies to almost everything generated or received by a public agency." Id. at 640. Although the Court acknowledged that the Legislature broadened the class of public records in enacting section 119.011(1), the Court concluded that the definition of the term "public records" limited "public information to those materials which constitute records--that is, materials that have been prepared with the intent of perpetuating or formalizing knowledge." Id. Thus, it cannot merely be the placement of the e-mails on the City's computer system that makes the e-mails public records. Rather, the e-mails must have been prepared "in connection with official agency business" and be "intended to perpetuate, communicate, or formalize knowledge of some type." Id.