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We shouldn’t have to say this: Public documents belong to the public. This is especially true when the documents relate to the spending of public funds.
With this rationale in mind, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, for the first time, ruled on Tuesday that a county commissioners’ group acted in “bad faith” when it didn’t fulfill a request for documents under the state’s Freedom of Access Act. Because of the determination of bad faith, the group was ordered to pay reasonable attorney’s fees for the litigation of this case that began more than two years ago.
The ruling strengthens Maine’s open records law by clarifying that when government actors dishonestly respond to a records request, those actions can constitute “bad faith.” While the ruling is positive news for those, including journalists, seeking access to public documents, many entities don’t have the resources to seek these documents through a long court battle. Instead, public entities should comply with the requirements and timelines included in the state’s FOAA law.
“The documents in this case are public, and there is a strong public interest in understanding the use of taxpayer dollars and settlements stemming from allegations of misconduct in Maine jails. These documents should have been released in 2021 when they were requested,” Anahita Sotoohi, a legal fellow with the ACLU of Maine, said in a press release. The ACLU represented the nonprofit that sought the documents from the country commissioners’ group. “Maine’s Freedom of Access Act has been the law since 1959, but this is the first time that bad faith has been found in a FOAA case and that attorney fees have been awarded. Establishing this standard is a significant victory for transparency and the ability of Maine’s people to hold the government accountable. ”
This case involves the details of a financial payment that was part of a settlement in a federal excessive force lawsuit filed by Jonathan Afanador, who accused guards at the Kennebec County Correctional Center of beating him, pepper-spraying him and using a racial slur.
The Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), a nonprofit organization that advocates for people held in U.S. detention centers, had sought information about a payment to Afandor to settle the case. The cost of the settlement was paid by the Maine County Commissioners Association’s self-funded Risk Management Pool, a group that insures Maine’s county governments, including Kennebec County, and is responsible for covering the costs of legal settlements.
An attorney for the risk pool told the Press Herald in 2021 that the case was settled for a payment of $30,000. But, when the Human Rights Defense Center filed a FOAA request for additional information, it was given a document that said the case was settled for “one dollar and other valuable consideration.” When it pressed for more information, it was given a copy of the newspaper story.
Last year, Maine Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings said the risk pool acted in bad faith by not providing the requested documents and ordered the risk management pool to pay attorneys’ fees and release the wrongfully withheld documents.
The state’s highest court upheld that determination.
“The Risk Pool’s failure to produce any of its records in response to HRDC’s FOAA request, despite HRDC’s repeated efforts to clarify what should already have been clear, can only be viewed as, in the [superior] court’s words, ‘deceptive and abusive of the FOAA process.’ We agree with the court that the Risk Pool’s response constituted a bad-faith refusal,” Justice Andrew Horton wrote for the court.
This case should be a reminder to public entities that stall or refuse to release public documents. Doing so is an abuse of the state’s open records process.
