This story in The Olympian describes a recent court ruling against Mason County for not providing public records. The requestor, Harold Carey, made public records requests by email. The County doesn't like Carey and put his email address on its spam list and then claimed it never "received" his records requests.
The judge assessed a (first-ever, to our knowledge) $100 per day penalty against the County. When the other penalties, costs, and attorney's fees are added up, Mason County will end up paying Carey about $145,000.
NOTE: Allied Law Group represented Carey in the case. Allied attorney Chris Roslaniec is quoted extensively in the story.
“Og-blog” stands for “open-government blog” and that’s what we do: tell people about open-government issues of interest to regular citizens, media, trade associations, and government agencies. We find interesting stories and court cases from Washington State and other places about the Public Records Act, Open Public Meetings Act, access-to-court rulings, and media law.
We warmly welcome your thoughts on og-blog and especially welcome your emails with suggested postings and links to interesting stories and court cases. If you have something to say about open government in Washington State, sending it to og-blog is probably the best way to get it out. Don’t hesitate to contact us at greg@overstreet-law.com.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(263)
-
▼
April
(13)
- They Can't Even Spell "Accountability"
- Bill Passes Giving Public Right to Comment at Publ...
- King County Settles Public Records Case Over Elect...
- School District Sued for Releasing (Not Withholdin...
- Tom Carr's Side of the Open Meetings Flap
- Olympian Editorial on Mason County Case
- Family of Child Murder Victim Seeks Public Records...
- Hostility to Open Gov't in Pennsylvania
- UPDATED (2) City of Seattle Plans Secret Budget Me...
- TNT Editorial on Coal Plant Negotiation Records
- Waiting Five Days to See Something Sitting Right T...
- Free Speech Wins in Open Meetings
- Mason County Must Pay $145,000 in Public Records Case
-
▼
April
(13)