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Tag: Missouri Court of Appeals

VICTORY! Missouri Court of Appeals Rules (Again) That Cole County Prosecuting Attorney is Obligated to Search for and Produce Public Records

VICTORY! Missouri Court of Appeals Rules (Again) That Cole County Prosecuting Attorney is Obligated to Search for and Produce Public Records

More than eight years ago the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office refused even to search for certain public records that Aaron Malin had requested. In 2019 the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling that this refusal was a purposeful violation of the Sunshine Law and that the Office was required to search for and produce all records responsive to Malin’s request. But nearly four years later the Office acknowledged that it still had not searched 6,000-8,000 cases’…

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VICTORY! Court of Appeals Orders St. Louis Circuit Attorney to Produce Public Records

VICTORY! Court of Appeals Orders St. Louis Circuit Attorney to Produce Public Records

After two years of litigating against St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner on behalf of acclaimed journalist John Solomon, the Freedom Center notched an important victory for government transparency. Solomon had requested all records showing Gardner’s communications with a range of influential people, including George Soros and other prominent left-leaning donors, in the days before she filed criminal charges against former governor Eric Greitens. Gardner initially didn’t respond at all, then refused to produce any of the requested records. The…

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PRESS RELEASE: Court of Appeals Rules Task Force “Substantially Complied” with Sunshine Law, Despite Failure to Respond to Four Requests

PRESS RELEASE: Court of Appeals Rules Task Force “Substantially Complied” with Sunshine Law, Despite Failure to Respond to Four Requests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  September 12, 2018 CONTACT:  Dave Roland Mexico, Missouri—In an unpublished opinion filed on September 11, 2018, in Malin v. MUSTANG, a panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that, although attorneys for the MUSTANG Task Force admitted that the Task Force had failed to offer any response to four separate requests for public records, the court would affirm a judgment stating that MUSTANG “complied or substantially complied” with the Sunshine Law. An unpublished opinion has no precedential…

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Congratulations, You Won! Now Pay Up.

Congratulations, You Won! Now Pay Up.

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On paper, Missouri’s Sunshine Law offers hope that if a citizen can prove in court that the government unlawfully denied a citizen’s access to public records or a public meeting, the citizen might recover the expenses they incurred associated with the lawsuit as well as limited civil penalties.  In practice, however, it is very, very rare for courts to award expenses or civil penalties – although it does sometimes occur, as in our Cole County Prosecuting Attorney case.  To win…

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