Costly defense
Ellen Kreth, the national-award-winning publisher of the Madison County Record in Huntsville, published a story the other day detailing how expensive it can be for taxpayers when a school district loses a Freedom of Information Act suit.
Circuit Judge Doug Martin ruled the Huntsville School District violated the FOIA in several areas when it failed to follow the state’s sunshine law in the well-publicized Title IX case involving sexual abuses by some middle school students against their classmates.
So far, Kreth wrote, the district has paid $18,275.67 to Springdale attorney Charles Harwell and his associate Steve Zega in unsuccessfully defending the FOIA lawsuit.
Attorneys’ fees for Harwell and Zega include $660 to travel from Springdale to Fayetteville to deliver documents, $1,650 for the court-ordered FOIA training session, $275 for witness preparation, $1,125 for hearing preparation, $2,275 to travel to and attend court and for client consultation, and $1,660 for research and writing a post-trial brief.
“In total, according to documents received from the district through an
FOIA request for legal bills and fees, since Feb. 1, 2021, the district has spent $74,626.71 on legal fees, which includes Title IX investigations into the sexual-abuse allegations, the FOIA lawsuit, and defending a Title IX lawsuit filed against the district arising out of the sexual-abuse allegations,” Kreth wrote.
To date, the district spent “$25,405 for the Title IX investigation legal fees, including $630 for training, $9,030 for investigations and $10,175.50 for 44.10 hours of legal work during December to attorney Cody Kees, who served as an outside decision-maker in the second Title IX investigation. Kees found that the three students in the second Title IX investigation could participate in school activities and not be expelled. He found that two students had left the district and one voluntarily attended virtually but could return to school if they chose.”
The costs go on. The district has also paid $20,275.54 for “other legal fees,” many pertaining to the Title IX investigation, other employee investigations, hiring attorneys to answer FOIA requests, having attorneys attend board meetings and a retainer fee to Harwell’s firm.
“So far to date,” Kreth wrote, “the district has also paid $8,920 defending the Title IX lawsuit.”
Trial attorney Joey McCutchen of Fort Smith, whose client won the Huntsville FOIA lawsuit, says he will break precedent with some of his successful FOIA cases and request attorney’s fees in this case because the violations were so egregious.
So, public servants, why not do the right thing and save your community money by becoming trained in our FOIA before perhaps having to lay an expense burden on it?
By the way, in a chat with Kreth the other day, she pointed out that there has yet to be accountability on the part of school district employees who reportedly knew that the alleged locker-room sexual abuse had been happening repeatedly over two years.
Makes me wonder why. How about you?
His FOIA problem
Staying with the subject of FOIA in Arkansas, I received an interesting message the other day from David Golden, an investigator with the Taylor King law firm, who relayed his experiences,
“Thanks for the article on FOIA,” he writes. “Public meetings are not the only problem. I am an investigator for a large accident-injury law firm. My responsibility is to gather information from accident reports and meet with clients who need an attorney.”
“Most all of the larger police departments have gone [electronic], which allows them to put all information in a computer that generates a report online and places it in the Arkansas State Police Database.
“That has led a number of departments to violate the FOIA, which requires reports be available for [public] review. They surmise that since the reports go to the state, that they no longer have to have those available.”
His understanding of the FOIA is the custodian of the reports has to have them available for review during normal working hours. “I think they are misled in their understanding of the FOIA and the seriousness of their violations.” Golden also believes because they now have to generate a 12-page report for the new system; the expense of printing reports is so costly that they avoid the law by using the state police as an excuse.
“Most all of the larger departments have a computer to allow access, or still provide paper reports. I’ve done this for 13 years and have seen this activity move in this direction for a few years now. There are also some departments that have a time frame when you can look at reports, which is also illegal.
“If my unlegal mind is correct, I understand a lot of their frustration comes from so-called runners representing chiropractors that create havoc for departments and the victims. Still, the law is in place to allow the public access to information that is considered public record.”