Kirkwood Institute, Inc. v. Iowa Auditor of State Rob Sand, John McCormally, and Office of the Auditor of State, 6 N.W.3d 1

Kirkwood Institute submitted several open records requests to the Iowa Office of the Auditor of State seeking emails between the Auditor's office and two investigative reporters, as well as related communications.
The Auditor’s office withheld ten email chains, citing statutory exemptions (§ 11.42 for audit information, § 22.7(18) for confidential external communications), and did not initially produce an eleventh email quoted in a reporter’s blog.
Kirkwood filed suit alleging the Auditor's office failed to meet its statutory burdens to justify withholding records and delayed producing the eleventh email.
After litigation commenced, the Auditor’s office produced the eleventh email, explaining it had been missed because it was sent from a personal email account.
The district court granted summary judgment for the Auditor’s office on all claims, finding the withheld emails exempt and no violation regarding the delayed production of the eleventh email.
Kirkwood appealed the district court’s ruling on all issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Delay in producing the McCormally-Belin email	Delay in producing the email constituted a refusal to produce records under chapter 22, entitling Kirkwood to relief	Production after lawsuit mooted the claim; any delay was unintentional and reasonable	Fact issue on reasonableness of delay; summary judgment reversed and remanded
Withholding nine emails under § 11.42	Emails with reporters were not "information received during the course of any audit or examination"; statute does not cover these	All communications about allegations of misconduct during audits are protected as audit information	Connection to audits not clear for all; summary judgment reversed and remanded for further factual development
Withholding one email under § 22.7(18)	Did not show disclosure would discourage communications or seek consent; exceptions to exemption not established	Statute allows withholding if reasonable belief of discouragement; no duty to contact every sender for consent	Affirmed that exemption applies; summary judgment for Auditor's office upheld
Duty to specify basis for withholding records	District court failed to explain specifically how exceptions applied to the ten emails	Disclosure of details would reveal confidential info, defeating in camera review purpose	District court's explanations were sufficient for the purpose of protecting confidentiality

Belin v. Reynolds, 989 N.W.2d 166 (Iowa 2023) (clarifies that refusal to produce records under open records law can be shown by unreasonable delay or explicit refusal; provides factors to assess reasonableness of delay)
Sand v. Doe, 959 N.W.2d 99 (Iowa 2021) (addresses "information received during course of audit" under § 11.42)
Ripperger v. Iowa Public Information Bd., 967 N.W.2d 540 (Iowa 2021) (interprets confidential communication exemption under § 22.7(18))
Klein v. Iowa Pub. Info. Bd., 968 N.W.2d 220 (Iowa 2021) (plaintiff lacks standing if records already publicly available)