The examination of any specific public record may be enjoined if, upon motion and affidavit by an agency or its representative or a person who is named in the record or to whom the record specifically pertains, the superior court for the county in which the movant resides or in which the record is maintained, finds that such examination would clearly not be in the public interest and would substantially and irreparably damage any person, or would substantially and irreparably damage vital governmental functions. An agency has the option of notifying persons named in the record or to whom a record specifically pertains, that release of a record has been requested. However, this option does not exist where the agency is required by law to provide such notice.
RCW 42.56.540
Court protection of public records.
Applied in 55 court decisions — leading case Soter v. Cowles Pub. Co. (2007)
Most recently applied in Love Overwhelming, V. City Of Longview (September 2024)
1992 c 139 s 7; 1975 1st ex.s. c 294 s 19; 1973 c 1 s 33 (Initiative Measure No. 276, approved November 7, 1972)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.