The Illinois Appellate Court’s recent decision in Balzer v. Metra 2026 IL App (1st) 232227 provides public bodies clarity on a FOIA issue that, until now, has been up for debate – When is an emailed FOIA request deemed “received” by a public body?

On July 31, 2019, a requester emailed a FOIA request to the Northeast Illinois Commuter Railroad Corporation, more commonly known as Metra. Metra’s third-party email software flagged the email, notifying Metra’s FOIA officer of the flagged email the following day (August 1), at which time it was accepted and received by Metra’s FOIA officer. That same day, Metra’s FOIA officer reached out to the requester seeking to narrow the request. The requester refused to narrow the request, and Metra formally denied the FOIA request as unduly burdensome on August 8 – six (6) business days after the FOIA request was sent, but five (5) business days after the FOIA officer received and opened it.

The requester sued Metra, claiming the denial did not comply with the statutorily required five (5) business day response time. Initially, the circuit court ruled in favor of Metra, holding that FOIA’s five-business-day response window began on the date a public body received and acknowledged receipt of the request.

On appeal, the Appellate Court ruled in favor of the requester, finding that Metra received the FOIA request on July 31 – the date that Metra’s third-party email service flagged the requester’s email – regardless of if Metra was unaware of the request until the next day. The Appellate Court held that Metra’s decision to use a third-party email service that caused an internal delay in receipt of the request did not toll the five-business-day response requirement. As a result, Metra’s response was untimely, and it had waived its ability to deny the request as unduly burdensome.

This decision creates a strict liability standard for digital intake of FOIA requests. Public entities can no longer rely on “technical difficulties” or “security filters” as a defense for late FOIA responses. As a result, public bodies should monitor their email filters to ensure that FOIA officers have immediate visibility into quarantined or “junk” folders and review their third-party email security settings to ensure legitimate FOIA requests aren’t being bottlenecked.

For more information about this article, please contact Tressler attorney Jim Hess at jhess@tresslerllp.com.

About the Author

Jim represents various local government entities, primarily focusing on day-to-day operations for cities, villages, fire protection districts, park districts, and library districts. Jim’s practice includes handling intergovernmental agreements, ordinances, contract negotiations, administrative proceedings, demolition issues, employment, Open Meetings Act issues, Freedom of Information Act matters, tort liability defense, and ethics. Jim also handles a variety of land use matters, including Tax Increment Financing districts, redevelopment agreements, annexations, and comprehensive planning. Click here to read Jim’s full attorney bio.