IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Daryl Locke, :

Petitioner :

 :

v. : No. 1922 C.D. 2014

 : SUBMITTED: April 17, 2015

Philadelphia Clerk of Courts, :

Respondent :

BEFORE: HONORABLE BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER, Judge

HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, Judge

HONORABLE PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY

JUDGE LEADBETTER FILED: September 10, 2015

Daryl Locke, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at 

Smithfield, petitions for review of the final determination of the Office of Open 

Records (OOR) that dismissed with prejudice his appeal filed under the Right-toKnow Law (Law), Act of February 14, 2008, P.L. 6, 65 P.S. §§ 67.101 - 67.3104.

OOR concluded that it lacked jurisdiction over Locke's request made to the Clerk 

of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (Clerk) for certified copies 

of sentencing orders issued in his criminal cases. We affirm.1

On September 4, 2014, Locke submitted a request for certified copies 

of the sentencing orders issued in his criminal cases. Locke averred that the Clerk 

failed to respond to the request within five business days and that the request was 

 

1 By order dated March 31, 2015, this Court precluded the Clerk from filing a brief for 

failure to comply with the prior order directing the Clerk to do so. 
2

therefore deemed denied under Section 901 of the Law, 65 P.S. § 67.901. Locke 

filed an appeal with OOR which issued a final determination on September 24, 

2014, dismissing his appeal with prejudice. OOR concluded that the Clerk is a 

"judicial agency" which is not subject to OOR's jurisdiction.

Locke challenges OOR's determination that it lacked jurisdiction over 

the Clerk. He argues that sentencing orders are public records subject to disclosure 

under the Law. He asserts that sentencing orders are the only documents 

authorizing his confinement and that his confinement would be unlawful without 

the sentencing orders. He insists that OOR should have transferred his request to 

the proper appeals officer. Finally, he claims that the denial of his request violated 

his liberty interests and due process rights. 

A determination of OOR's jurisdiction requires interpretation of the 

statutory language of the Law; accordingly, our review of OOR's order is plenary. 

Bockelman Trucking v. Pa. Prevailing Wage Appeals Bd., 30 A.3d 616, 621 (Pa. 

Cmwlth. 2011). OOR designates an appeals officer to hear disputes for all 

Commonwealth agencies and local agencies. Section 503(a) of the Law, 65 P.S. § 

67.503(a). By contrast, a "judicial agency," not OOR, designates an appeals 

officer to hear appeals under Chapter 11 of the Law (appeal of agency 

determination). Section 503(b) of the Law, 65 P.S. § 67.503(b). A "judicial 

agency" is "[a] court of the Commonwealth or any other entity or office of the 

unified judicial system." Section 102 of the Law, 65 P.S. § 67.102. Clerks of 

court "are personnel of the unified judicial system." League of Women Voters of 

Greater Pittsburgh v. Allegheny Cnty., 819 A.2d 155, 158 n.12 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2003) 

(citing Section 102 of the Judicial Code, as amended, 42 Pa. C.S. § 102). Under 

the express terms of the Law, therefore, "judicial agencies, including Clerk, are not 
3

subject to OOR's jurisdiction." Faulk v. Phila. Clerk of Courts, 116 A.3d 1183, 

1186 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2015). Hence, OOR properly dismissed Locke's appeal with 

prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.

Moreover, sentencing orders requested by Locke do not qualify as 

"public records" under the Law. This Court explained:

The [Law] is not the sole mechanism for obtaining 

records from judicial agencies. Indeed, the [Law] offers 

limited access restricted by its terms to a defined type of 

records of judicial agencies. Thus, unlike records of 

Commonwealth or local agencies, where all records in 

their possession are presumed public, only "financial 

records" of judicial agencies are accessible through the 

[Law] ....

That sentencing orders do not qualify as "public 

records" under the [Law] does not diminish their public 

nature. Accordingly, although Clerk is not duty-bound to 

disclose court records under the [Law], Requester may 

seek access to court records outside the constraints [the 

Law's] statutory scheme imposes on access to records of 

a judicial agency.

Faulk, 116 A.3d at 1187-88 (footnotes and citations omitted; emphasis in original).

Under Section 1101(a) of the Law (relating to filing an appeal), a 

requester, not the agency, has the initial onus for properly directing the appeal to 

the designated appeals officers. Faulk, 116 A.3d at 1186. Therefore, OOR did not 

violate Locke's due process rights by not transferring his appeal to another appeals 

officer. Id. Locke's claim of a liberty interest in the sentencing orders must also be 

rejected. As in this case, the requester in Faulk appended the Department of 

Corrections' attestation of non-existence of the sentencing order to his appeal to 

argue that he was being improperly incarcerated without a copy of his sentencing 

order. In rejecting the argument, this Court stated:

[W]e explained this Court is not in a position to rule on 

the legality of incarceration when [the Department] does 
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not have a copy of the sentencing order. ... Similarly, we 

do not consider the Clerk's alleged refusal to produce a 

copy of Requester's sentencing order here, and the 

alleged deprivation of liberty that causes. Additionally, 

the [Law] does not offer a vehicle for collaterally 

attacking a conviction.

Id. at 1188.

Accordingly, OOR's final determination is affirmed.

_____________________________________

BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER,

Judge
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Daryl Locke, :

Petitioner :

 :

v. : No. 1922 C.D. 2014

 :

Philadelphia Clerk of Courts, :

Respondent :

O R D E R

AND NOW, this 10th day of September, 2015, the final determination 

of the Office of Open Records in the above-captioned matter is AFFIRMED.

_____________________________________

BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER,

Judge