IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Matthew Haverstick, :

Petitioner :

: No. 1214 C.D. 2020

v. : Argued: December 13, 2021

: Pennsylvania State Police, :

Respondent :

BEFORE: HONORABLE PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge

HONORABLE CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge
HONORABLE BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER, Senior Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BY JUDGE McCULLOUGH FILED: April 12, 2022

Matthew Haverstick (Requester) petitions for review of the October 28,

2020 final determination of the Office of Open Records (OOR), which dismissed his

appeal from the disclosure of records that the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) made

during the pendency of another appeal to the OOR in the related case of Haverstick v.

Pennsylvania State Police

, A.3d (Pa. Cmwlth., No. 1042 C.D. 2020, filed April

12, 2022) (unreported) ( Haverstick I ), on principles of res judicata

. 1

In Haverstick I , this Court set for th the underlying factual and procedural

history of this case and we incorporate it here through reference. With respect to this

appeal, Requester raises three issues for our review: (1) “Under [s]ection 1101(a)(1)

of the [RTKL], when a government agency b elatedly produces redacted records [(the

1 Haverstick I was argued seriately with the instant appeal.2

Records)], is it appropriate for the OOR to issue a determination as to those belatedly

produced [R]ecords before the [R]equester’s 15

- day statutory appeal deadline has

lapsed”; (2) “Under [s]ection 1101(a)(1) of the [Right

- to

- Know Law (RTKL) 2 ], is it

appr opriate for the OOR to dismiss an appeal and declare [the] [R]ecords ‘fully

adjudicated’ even though the appeal was timely filed before the 15

- day statutory appeal

deadline had lapsed”; and (3) “Under [s]ection 708 of the [RTKL], is ‘non

responsiveness an appropriate basis to redact [the] responsive [R]ecords.” (Requester’s

Br. at 7.)

The three issues that Requester raises were directly disposed of in

Haverstick I . In that case, we concluded, with respect to the first and second issues,

that “Requester, on ce having filed an appeal from the PSP’s initial denial of the request,

did not possess a right under the RTKL or the case law to file an additional and separate

appeal with the OOR to contest the Records that the PSP later granted him during the

pendency of the original appeal before the OOR.” Haverstick I , slip op. at 7.

Nonetheless, this Court determined that Requester had no meaningful opportunity to

o bject to the Records, because the PSP disclosed them on the date the record closed

before the OOR; the OOR erred in dismissing any appeal as to the Records as moot;

and, thus, Requester was entitled to challenge the redactions that the PSP made to the

Reco rds on grounds of “non

- responsiveness.” Regarding the third issue, we concluded

that “non

- responsiveness” was not an appropriate legal basis to redact the Records and

remanded to the OOR with specific direction to enter an order compelling the PSP to

provide Requester with the Records within a reasonable timeframe.

Accordingly, because our decision in Haverstick I has completely

resolved all the issues presented in this appeal, affording Requester all the relief he

2 Act of February 14, 2008, P.L. 6, 65 P.S. §§67.101

- 67.3104.3

desires, and the Court is no longer capable of granting any further, meaningful relief,

we dismiss this appeal as moot. See In re Gross

, 382 A.2d 116, 125 (Pa. 1978) (stating

that a case is moot when, for the court, it becomes “impossible to grant relief” because

“no actual controversy exists,” and thus, there is no reason for “deciding the issue

involved”).

PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, JudgeIN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Matthew Haverstick, :

Petitioner :

: No. 1214 C.D. 2020

v. :

: Pennsylvania State Police, :

Respondent :

ORDER

AND NOW, this 12 th day of April, 2022, the petition for review of the

October 28, 2020 final determination of the Office of Open Records, filed by

Matthew Haverstick, is DISMISSED as moot.

PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge