Theranos/Attorney General Communications (Office of the Attorney General - Utah)

Dear Beryl Lipton,

On 7-2-15 the Utah Attorney General’s Office received your records request
asking for the following records:

“All contracts, memorandums of agreements, nondisclosure agreements,
electronic communications, and any other materials exchanged or entered
into with, regarding, or referencing Theranos [https://www.theranos.com/]
or any representative thereof.

The response to your request is due 7-17-15, which is ten business days
after your request was received.

The Office is working on its response to your request. Unfortunately, the
Office is currently processing a large number of records requests and it
will not be possible to respond to your request by 7-17-15. The response
deadline is therefore being extended as authorized by Utah Code Sections
63G-2-204(5)(d) and 63G-2-204(6)(c) (West Supp. 2014). Pursuant to Utah
Code Ann. Section 63G-2-204(3)(b)(iv) (West Supp. 2014), I am notifying you
that I estimate that the Office will be able to respond to your request by
8-27-15. If at some future date it appears that further extension of that
deadline is needed I will inform you. Your patience is appreciated.

You have the right to appeal this extension of the response deadline to the
chief administrative officer of the Office, as provided in Utah Code Ann.
Section 63G-2-401(1)(b) (Effective 5-12-15). The notice of appeal would
need to be sent to Attorney General Sean D. Reyes at following address:

(If by hand-delivery)

GRAMA Appeal
Office of the Attorney General
Utah State Capitol Complex
350 North State Street Suite 230
Salt Lake City, UT 84114

(If by mail)

GRAMA Appeal
Office of the Attorney General
PO Box 140860
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-0860

(If by email)

GRAMA Coordinator
grama_coordinator@utah.gov
To do so, you must file a Notice of Appeal with that officer within 30 days
after the date of this email. Your Notice of Appeal must contain your
name, your mailing address, your daytime telephone number, and a statement
of the relief you seek. With your Notice of Appeal, you may also file a
short statement of facts, reasons and legal authority in support of your
appeal. Please note that Utah Code Ann. Section 63G-2-
401(9) (Effective 5-12-15) provides that the duties of the chief
administrative officer for handling such appeals may be delegated.

Sincerely,

Blaine Ferguson

--
Blaine R. Ferguson
Assistant Attorney General, State of Utah
Government Records Counsel
P. O. Box 140860
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-0860
Telephone: (801) 366-0209
Email: bferguso@utah.gov

*PRIVACY NOTICE: This email, from the Office of the Utah Attorney General,
contains information that may be confidential and/or legally privileged.
This email is intended only for the use of the person(s) named as intended
recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution of or the taking of any
action in reliance on the contents of this email is strictly prohibited.
If you have received this email in error, you are hereby instructed to
delete it from your computer system immediately, and to also delete any
attachments to this email. The unauthorized disclosure, use or publication
of confidential or privileged information inadvertently transmitted to you
may expose you to criminal and/or civil liability.*

Dear Beryl Lipton,

The Utah Attorney General’s Office has been working on your records request
asking for the following records:

“All contracts, memorandums of agreements, nondisclosure agreements,
electronic communications, and any other materials exchanged or entered
into with, regarding, or referencing Theranos [https://www.theranos.com/]
or any representative thereof.

As the result of an extension, the response to your request is due 8-27-15.

This email will give you a status report regarding your request, ask for
your help to assist in our search for records, and extend the deadline for
our response.

STATUS REPORT

I have asked the leadership of every division in our office if they have
heard of Theranos and if they believe their divisions have any records that
would be responsive to your request. I have heard back from most of them.
So far, I have not been able to find anyone who has heard of Theranos, or
who believes they have any responsive records.

I could ask every employee of the office to do a search for responsive
records. However, we have at least 440 employees and it would be very
expensive to conduct such a search. Even if each employee spent only 15
minutes searching for records, the cost of doing that would be over
$3,779. If it looks like such a search will be needed, I will need to more
specifically address the issue of fees with you.

REQUEST FOR YOU HELP

I am hopeful that such an office-wide search will not be necessary. Can
you please let me know if there is any particular person or division in our
office that you believe might have responsive records? Since my efforts
have so far turned up dry, it will be most helpful if you can point me in
the direction of someone in our office who you think might have the records
you are seeking.

Please let me which direction you would like our office to go in responding
to your request. That is, do you have the name of any particular person(s)
or division(s) you think might have responsive records? Or, do you want a
full-blown office-wide search (in which case we will have to address the
issue of fees)? Or, are you satisfied with the efforts I have already made
and wish to withdraw your request?

Please let me know by 9-9-15.

EXTENSION OF RESPONSE DEADLINE

Unfortunately, because the Office is still processing a large number of
records requests it will be necessary to do a further extension of the
response deadline. The response deadline is therefore being extended as
authorized by Utah Code Sections 63G-2-204(5)(d) and 63G-2-204(6)(c) (West
Supp. 2014). Pursuant to Utah Code Ann. Section 63G-2-204(3)(b)(iv) (West
Supp. 2014), I am notifying you that I estimate that the Office will be
able to respond to your request by 10-20-15. If at some future date it
appears that further extension of that deadline is needed I will inform
you. Your patience is appreciated.

You have the right to appeal this extension of the response deadline to the
chief administrative officer of the Office, as provided in Utah Code Ann.
Section 63G-2-401(1)(b) (West Supp. 2015). The notice of appeal would need
to be sent to Attorney General Sean D. Reyes at following address:

(If by hand-delivery)

GRAMA Appeal
Office of the Attorney General
Utah State Capitol Complex
350 North State Street Suite 230
Salt Lake City, UT 84114

(If by mail)

GRAMA Appeal
Office of the Attorney General
PO Box 140860
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-0860

(If by email)

GRAMA Coordinator
grama_coordinator@utah.gov
To do so, you must file a Notice of Appeal with that officer within 30 days
after the date of this email. Your Notice of Appeal must contain your
name, your mailing address, your daytime telephone number, and a statement
of the relief you seek. With your Notice of Appeal, you may also file a
short statement of facts, reasons and legal authority in support of your
appeal. Please note that Utah Code Ann. Section 63G-2-401(9) (West Supp.
2015) provides that the duties of the chief administrative officer for
handling such appeals may be delegated.

Sincerely,

Blaine Ferguson

--
Blaine R. Ferguson
Assistant Attorney General, State of Utah
Government Records Counsel
P. O. Box 140860
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-0860
Telephone: (801) 366-0209
Email: bferguso@utah.gov

*PRIVACY NOTICE: This email, from the Office of the Utah Attorney General,
contains information that may be confidential and/or legally privileged.
This email is intended only for the use of the person(s) named as intended
recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution of or the taking of any
action in reliance on the contents of this email is strictly prohibited.
If you have received this email in error, you are hereby instructed to
delete it from your computer system immediately, and to also delete any
attachments to this email. The unauthorized disclosure, use or publication
of confidential or privileged information inadvertently transmitted to you
may expose you to criminal and/or civil liability.*