Constructive Denial

This guide is for informational purposes only, is general in nature, and is not legal opinion nor legal advice regarding any specific issue or factual circumstance.

There is no legal basis for an agency being completely unresponsive.

Example Appeals

South Carolina Public Records Law S.C. Code Ann. § 30-1-30(c) specifically requires that an agency provide a response to a public records request within 15 business days of receipt of that request.

By failing to respond to this request within the legally-mandated timeframe, this agency is in violation of the law.

Please provide acknowledgement of this request and the responsive materials forthwith. If such materials cannot be produced, please provide an appropriate explanation for this rejection, as is dictated by this agency's legal obligations under the South Carolina Public Records Law. Your accelerated attention to this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Proper Use

An agency has 15 business days to respond to the initial request.

Improper Use

According to the South Carolina Public Records Law “By the end of the fifteenth business day, the agency must notify the requester with its determination and its reasons. If written notification is not mailed or delivered within the allotted time frame, the request must be considered approved.”

Key Citations

S.C. Code Ann. § 30-1-30(c)

S.C. Code Ann. § 30-4-30(c) (“Each public body, upon written request for records made under this chapter, shall within ten days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) of the receipt of the request, notify the person making the request of its determination and the reasons for it; provided, however, that if the record is more than twenty-four months old at the date the request is made, the public body has twenty days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) of the receipt to make this notification.”)

Litchfield Plantation Co. v. Georgetown Cnty. Water & Sewer Dist., 443 S.E.2d 574 (S.C. 1994)