In Balzer v. Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp. (Metra), the First District Illinois Appellate Court found that a public body “receives” a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request the moment the request enters the public body’s designated system, even if a third-party security filter quarantines it and the FOIA officer does not see it until later. In this case, Metra’s security vendor, Mimecast, received a request, held it for security purposes for one day, and Metra denied the request six business days later. The court ruled that their response was untimely under FOIA’s five-day response requirement.
On July 31, a requester emailed Metra a broad, categorical request seeking essentially every type of record Metra possessed concerning Metra’s battery‑recycling contract over a three‑and‑a‑half‑year span. Metra’s security vendor, Mimecast, flagged the email as suspicious and held it overnight. Metra treated the request as “received” only when its FOIA officer manually released the email from quarantine the next morning, August 1. Metra issued its formal denial on August 8, which the court determined was the sixth business day after the request entered Metra’s designated intake system, even though it was only the fifth business day after the FOIA officer saw the email. The court emphasized that public bodies cannot extend their statutory deadlines by outsourcing email screening or relying on internal delays. While the miscalculation was an “innocent mistake,” it could have significant consequences for a public body.
This ruling is significant for public bodies because it makes clear that FOIA’s five‑business‑day deadline begins the moment a request enters the chosen intake system, whether an inbox, a server, or a third-party filter. The court emphasized that public bodies bear the risk of their own technology, meaning districts must ensure their FOIA intake systems are monitored and reliable to avoid missing FOIA requests.
Source: Balzer v. Ne. Ill. Reg’l Commuter R.R. Corp., 2026 IL App (1st) 232227
