“As Promptly as Possible”: When does a public records delay become a de facto denial?

By Beth Soja, NCPA, May 30, 2023

If you make public records requests in North Carolina, you are undoubtedly familiar with N.C. law which requires a public body to furnish responsive records “as promptly as possible.” You have also likely experienced firsthand that “as promptly as possible” can mean different things to the requester and to the public body records custodian. How did we end up with this wording, and what have our courts said about public bodies that delay, delay, delay? What can you do to push back? 

The majority of states have public records laws that give custodians a set number of days to respond to records requests and/or produce records; North Carolina does not, and that puts us in the significant minority along with a small handful of states that also have an unspecified timeframe.

Luckily, lower courts have begun weighing in on the issue. Lower court opinions are not as easy to find because they are not always published in the same way that an appellate court decision is published, but they can serve as excellent cautionary tales for custodians who are not acting promptly. (If you want a copy of the Columbus County orders to share with a stubborn public agency, you can download them HERE and HERE).