Griffin Industries, Inc. “Griffin”, filed suit against the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture collectively, “the Department” seeking an order compelling the Department to comply with Griffin’s request for records under the Georgia Open Records Act “GORA”.1 The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and the trial court granted summary judgment to the Department. Griffin appeals, arguing that the trial court erred by concluding that the Department provided reasonable access to public records requested by Griffin and that there were genuine issues of material fact that preclude summary judgment. We affirm, for the reasons that follow. Summary judgment is only proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c. A de novo standard of review applies to an appeal from a grant of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.2 So viewed, the evidence shows that on December 29, 2004, Griffin served the Department with a GORA request seeking access to certain categories of records, inter alia, electronic documents, including e-mail correspondence related to Griffin “since January 1, 2003.”3 On January 25, 2005, the Department made available certain records it deemed responsive to Griffin’s GORA request, including copies of three e-mails from the relevant time period. After Griffin contacted the Department about the insufficiency of its response, the Department’s general counsel responded: “Concerning your request that the e-mails be retained and not deleted, I cannot agree. I suggest if you want our e-mails, you should send an Open Records Act request identifying what you want, and then we can tell you if we can do it and at what cost, if any, to you.” On February 18, 2005, Griffin renewed its GORA request, requesting that the Department notify all relevant employees about the request and “specifically requesting that all e-mail correspondence since January 1, 2003, that is responsive to Griffin’s GORA request, be made available by electronic means.” In its February 23, 2005 written response, the Department agreed to search for identifiable records, but advised that the Department does not archive any of the e-mails of the employees of the Department. The Department possesses backups from January 2, 2005, for emergency rebuilding purposes, which are not reasonably available for searching. The Department is willing to make available this information so that it may be searched . . . after review by the Department and payment by Griffin for all costs of services associated with the search, transport, and other direct administrative services. . . .” Thereafter, following a conversation between Griffin’s counsel and the Chief Information Officer for the Department, Griffin requested “that all back-up tapes of computer data that existed as of the time of my GORA request on December 28, 2004, and all such back-up data currently in existence, not be deleted or overwritten.” In response, on March 1, 2005, the Department advised Griffin’s counsel that some of the backup tapes had already been overwritten, but agreed to use a new full set of backup tapes to avoid any future overwriting contingent upon payment by Griffin of $1,540 to replace the backup tapes.
Dissatisfied with the Department’s response, Griffin filed a petition against the Department pursuant to OCGA § 50-18-73 a on March 4, 2005, seeking to compel the Department’s compliance with Griffin’s GORA request and attorney fees and litigation expenses. Griffin also sought an interlocutory injunction or restraining order “to prevent the Department from destroying the requested information pending final resolution of this matter.” Some time after the petition was filed, the Department provided an estimate ranging from $37,780 to $2,837,705, which the Department would require Griffin to pay in order for the Department to obtain e-mails that were placed on 31 backup tapes, which the Department had preserved.
