FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A Franklin County judge has ruled that the personal e-mails of two state employees should be released to the public after the husband of one of those state workers filed an open records request. He suspected his wife was having an affair with the other state worker.

But the battle continues over just what should be released under Kentucky’s open records law. The Louisville attorney who helped write that law is uncomfortable with how it's being applied here.

“The public has a right to know how government operates, what government is doing, the reasons behind it, that the government is doing the public's business and the public has a right to know,” says attorney Jon Fleischaker. “Clearly, the court here is dealing with a situation that is not public business.”

But in March, the man who filed the open records request told WHAS11 News why his wife's e-mails should be made public.

“[They’re] on a public server, in a public building, paid for by public tax dollars,” Stephen Malmer said.

And that's precisely what the judge ruled. Despite a personal privacy exemption to the open records law, the e-mails were sent between two justice cabinet employees on their work e-mail accounts.

Every state worker signs a form saying they understand state policy forbids using state computers for personal business.

The circuit court ruling is limited to just this case. But the justice cabinet's legal director tells me that any appeal would seek a definitive ruling for all state workers.

"The e-mails in question here are basically minor compared to the overall legal principle of whether personal e-mails unrelated to government business are available to the public under the Open Records Act," says Thomas Self, the executive director of legal services for the Kentucky Justice Cabinet.

Here's a lesson for anyone: If you are using your work e-mail for private messages, you're taking a risk, because your employer has access to every word you write.

“I think the real consequence of this case is that state officials, state employees are going to learn they ought not to be doing private business on state time with state equipment,” Fleischaker says.

Part of the confusion as to how the open records law applies, is that the different judges who hear the appeals don't agree on how it applies.

Pending an appeal, the justice cabinet has not yet released the e-mails to Stephen Malmer. If they are released, anyone can read them, not just him.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.