Standing to pursue an action under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); “The requesting person” for purposes of MCL 15.240(1)(b); Detroit Free Press, Inc v City of Southfield; Effect of the fact plaintiff submitted the FOIA requests on behalf of a newspaper; “Person” (MCL 15.232(g))

Holding that “there was one requesting ‘person’ and that ‘person’ was the” newspaper plaintiff worked for, the court agreed with the trial court that she lacked standing to bring this FOIA action in her individual capacity. Thus, it affirmed summary disposition for defendant. Plaintiff, who works for the Ann Arbor Independent, submitted two FOIA requests to defendant. Defendant denied them on the basis it is not a public body. Plaintiff, proceeding pro per, sued challenging the denial. The trial court agreed with defendant that, because the requests were made on behalf of the newspaper, only the newspaper “had standing to bring a FOIA action challenging” their denial. On appeal, the court noted that plaintiff’s requests, sent from her newspaper email address, spoke “on behalf o[f] ‘the Ann Arbor Independent’ and mention that should defendant fail to comply with the request, the ‘Ann Arbor Independent’s only recourse is to . . . sue Supreme Felons.’ The email specifies that ‘The Ann Arbor Independent would like copies of the following public records . . . .’ In a later email, plaintiff thanked defendant for ‘acknowledging the newspaper’s second FOIA request.’” The court concluded that “the only ‘requesting person’ was the non-individual corporate entity. Plaintiff, an individual who herself can make a FOIA request, acted only in her capacity as an agent of the non-individual corporate entity. An agent cannot become an individual ‘requesting person’ by signing a document and providing their name and address. They must also be requesting something. Here, the only ‘person’ requesting documents, according to the FOIA requests themselves, is the Ann Arbor Independent. The corporate entity remains ‘the requesting person’ and only that ‘requesting person’ may commence a civil action ‘to compel the public body’s disclosure of the public record.’”