I had the recent challenge of assisting an attorney with identifying the owner of a franchise at a specific location after their legal team was not able to do so. Although the attorney had researched the Corporation Commission and Secretary of State records, he was left with more questions than answers because of the numerous business locations and franchise owners for this particular business.
Like most professional investigators, I reviewed the location’s website, social media pages, prior court records, and conducted numerous data aggregator searches in an attempt to tie a name, address, or phone number to an entity or person. All of these searches resulted in no new intelligence.
So, what next? I decided that I must be overthinking the problem and knew that there had to be a public record directly tying the name of the franchise owner to the specific location in question.
I submitted a public record request to the local city clerk’s office for the business license, license application, and alarm permit (all of which are public record in the state I was searching in). Within 24 hours, I received all of the records that I had asked for, and the franchise owner was easily identified.
Here were the big takeaways.
- Don’t overthink a problem.
- When your usual sources of information fail to produce results, get creative and pivot.
- Public records are often the best source for information.
- Start with the assumption that all records produced or maintained by the government are public record and open to inspection.
- When you don’t know which government entity holds the record that you need, contact or file a public record request with the city clerk. Oftentimes they will simply route your request to the proper department.
- When all else fails, call your network, and ask for additional ideas. Don’t be afraid to call upon others for help.