In New York Civ. Liberties Union v State of New York, 4 NY3d 175 the Court of Appeals held that "mandamus* is available 'only to enforce a clear legal right where the public official has failed to perform a duty enjoined by law'"
In this action brought by Plaintiff pursuant to CPLR §7803[1] seeking certain agency records under color of New York State's Freedom of Information Law, the Appellate Division held that the agency, in response to Petitioner's request for information to assist him in formulating FOIL requests for certain records, "fully complied with its obligation under 21 NYCRR 1401.2(b)(2) to 'indicate the manner in which the records are filed, retrieved or generated to assist [Petitioner] in reasonably describing records'".
The court noted that the FOIL appeal officer provided Petitioner with a list of records maintained by subject matter, instructed Petitioner to include "relevant docket numbers, dates, names, addresses, [and] descriptions," and advised Petitioner to avoid the use of "phrase[s] or reference material[s]" because the records were not maintained or characterized in that manner.
The Appellate Division noted that nothing in the regulation supported Petitioner's argument that agency was required to produce additional information regarding how the records were stored and retrieved in its database. Further, said the court, Petitioner's reliance on Defenders v New York City Police Dept. (2017 NYLJ LEXIS 1412) was misplaced as the court held "the NYPD was not required to provide database fields."
* The writ of mandamus, Latin for we command, to compel an official to perform "acts that such officials are duty-bound to perform." Other ancient writs include the writ of prohibition – a writ issued by a higher tribunal to a lower tribunal to "prohibit" the adjudication of a matter then pending before the lower tribunal on the grounds that the lower tribunal "lacked jurisdiction;" the writ of injunction - a judicial order preventing a public official from performing an act; the writ of certiorari, compelling a lower court to send its record of a case to the higher tribunal for review by the higher tribunal; and the writ of quo warranto [by what authority]. The Civil Practice Law and Rules sets out the modern equivalents of the surviving ancient writs.
Click HERE to access the Appellate Division's decision posted on the Internet.