Louisiana Attorney General Ordered to Release Public Records

According to The Advocate, a Baton Rouse judge has ordered Attorney General Jeff Landry to release public records related to a sexual harassment investigation of one of his top aides. In February, Landry sued Advocate and Times-picayune reporter Andrea Gallo about two months after she filed a request under Louisiana’s public records law seeking the records of complaints about Pat Magee, the head of the Landry’s office’s criminal division, as well as records of how the complaints were handled. Initially, Landry’s office told Gallo that they would provide the records once the investigation was closed. However, it later said they were withholding the complaint due to a constitutional right to privacy and policies within the office. The newspaper invited redaction of the initial complaint to protect the identity of the victim, but said the office had to turn over the records and threatened a lawsuit. Landry opted to sue first, seeking a declaratory judgment to make the records off-limits and asked that the court records in the matter be sealed and that Gallo be assessed fees. Judge Tim Kelley of the 19th Judicial District ruled in favor of Gallo and ordered Landry to release the records after making the necessary redactions. In addition, Kelley ordered Landry’s office to pay reasonable attorney’s fees of $5,625 to Scott Sternberg, who represented Gallo. Landry’s office released a statement after the ruling noting that Kelley had found the attorney general had “followed the letter of the law” in its responses to Gallo. The office does not plan to appeal, a Landry spokesman said.