Florida Public Records and Open Meetings Attorneys' Fees Database
Feb. 19, 2003

The following is a chronology of cases in which plaintiffs obtained litigation expenses in legal actions filed under the Florida Open Records or Open Meetings Law. In some of the cases, the court awarded attorneys' fees or court costs, or both. In other cases, litigation expenses were included as part of a settlement agreement. The chronology also notes those cases in which government actions were nullified. The amounts of litigation expenses awarded or agreed to in settlements have been provided when possible. In some cases, judges awarded litigation expenses, but did not specify amounts.

For the years 1994-1996, media and non-media plaintiffs obtained $112,172 in attorneys' fees and costs in open records and meetings cases. This figure includes the amounts of court awards and settlements. If a court award was subsequently settled, the amount of the ultimate settlement was included, but not the amount of the award, thus the total amount is a net figure. For 1997, the Brechner Center is aware of $41,455.30 in fees and costs obtained in public records and meetings cases. The 1997 figure represents two cases, both of which resulted in settlements. The Brechner Center's last summary report of fees and costs data (Brechner Report, April 1994) stated that media and non-media plaintiffs had obtained $423,678 in attorneys' fees and costs for the years 1990-1993.

According to the known data, since 1981, media and non-media litigants have obtained a cumulative total of $815,569.02 in attorneys' fees and court costs in open records and meetings cases. Courts have awarded at least $473,287.02 and settlements account for at least $251,347. In some cases, it is not known whether fees and costs were obtained through a court order or a settlement agreement. Also, in two cases, court awards of fees and costs were subsequently settled by the parties. In one case, the trial judge ordered the Palm Beach School Board to pay $30,163 to The Palm Beach Post and the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel in a public records dispute, but the board ultimately agreed in 1996 to pay a total of $39,000 after it appealed the case unsuccessfully. In another case, the Orlando Sentinel settled in 1992 a public records dispute with the Osceola School Board by agreeing not to collect a fees award in the amount of $15,000, and the board agreed to drop its appeal of the case.

To date, the single largest amount of legal fees and court costs obtained in a public records or meetings case is $331,000 by the Miami Herald in March of 2002.

The Brechner Center would like to receive information about other open meetings or records cases in which litigation expenses were awarded or obtained, or in which government action was nullified. The Center also would like to receive additional or updated information on any of the cases listed in the chronology. If you would like to bring any information to our attention, please contact us by mail, telephone, or telefax:

Attention: Editor, The Brechner Report
Brechner Center for Freedom of Information
College of Journalism and Communications
University of Florida
P.O. Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400

Telephone: 352/392-2273
Telefax: 352/392-9173

MARCH 2002: The Miami Herald won $331,000 in legal fess from Dade Aviation Consultant after the Third District Court of Appeal ruled the company’s efforts to keep documents secret could be criminal. The Herald first sued the consulting firm in 2000 after they refused to turn over records indicating how much the firm paid lobbyists who helped win a county contract to manage Miami International Airport’s $5.4 billion expansion project. At that time, the judge said the company did not have to pay legal fees and the Herald appealed.

JANUARY 2002: The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has paid $10,000 in lieu of attorneys’ fees to The News-Journal of Daytona Beach after the office refused to release requested jail transportation logs. The Sheriff’s Office argued that releasing the records would have violated the confidentiality of the inmate’s medical records. Sheriff Jim Manfre settled with the newspaper to pay $10,000, which the newspaper will use to support a Sunshine Law seminar.

AUGUST 2001: The Sanford Housing Authority Board agreed to settle a lawsuit with two tenants who claimed the board violated the state Open Meetings Law when they made an agreement behind closed doors allowing four former board members to resign. The housing board members will pay $24,000 in the settlement; $5,000 to the tenants and $19,000 in attorneys’ fees.

JUNE 2001: Since a 1997 ruling against Prison Health Services for withholding public records from The Ledger of Lakeland, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has asked Chief Judge Charles Curry, 10th Judicial Circuit, to force the newspaper to pay its legal bills. The Sheriff’s Office argued that the newspaper should have sued only the Prison Health Services and never involved the Sheriff’s Office in the suit. Curry refused to require the newspaper to pay the legal fees, ruling the lawsuit was not frivolous and that public records requests did not have to be put in writing.

APRIL 2001: The Florida Supreme Court ordered Memorial Hospital-West Volusia, Inc. to pay an estimated $100,000 in legal fess to the Daytona Beach News-Journal after the Court ruled that a Public Records Law exemption governing some hospital records cannot be applied retroactively. The 1998 statute exempts records of public hospitals that are leased to private companies, and the newspaper sued for the pre-1998 records of the hospital.

JANUARY 2001: A judge ruled that Martin County commissioners violated the Sunshine Law by meeting in closed-door sessions after The Palm Beach Post filed suit against the county. The judge ordered the county to release written transcripts of the meetings and to pay the newspaper’s attorney fees.

JANUARY 2001: Judge Manual Menendez Jr., 13th Judicial Circuit, ordered the Tampa Palms Community Development District supervisors to pay attorney fees for former supervisor, Bob Doran, who sued the district in 1999, citing four Sunshine Law violations. The community development group will pay $40,000 in legal fees.

JANUARY 2001: The Indian River County Hospital District refused to reimburse board member Richard Aldrich’s request for $36,000 of legal fees. In March, a county grand jury issued indictments against Aldrich and former trustee Allen Seed for knowingly violating the Sunshine Law by discussing district business at a restaurant. Seed also requested legal fee reimbursement, but was also denied. (July 2001 update)

JANUARY 2001: The St. Petersburg Times was awarded $4,750 in legal fee reimbursement after the newspaper filed suit with the city of St. Petersburg when they refused to provide a reporter with copies of public documents. The city has since turned over all documents, and the newspaper is donating the money from the lawsuit to local charities so that community residents are not penalized by their local government actions.

DECEMBER 2000: The Town Council of Golden Beach agreed to pay more than $15,000 in legal fees for three town officials, including more that $7,000 for a councilman accused of a Sunshine Law violation. Council member Al Paruas was involved in an Open Meetings Law case in 1999 after he ejected a resident from a November meeting. Investigators with the state attorney’s office are still investigating the case. Paruas’ current legal fees add up to $7,125.15.

NOVEMBER 2000: In 1999, the Vero Beach City Council settled a Sunshine Law suit brought by community activist Frank Zorc for $575,000. About $300,000 of that went to his attorney, Jon Kaney of Daytona Beach. The city also paid $456,000 in legal fees to four law firms involved in the case. Recently, in a 5-0 vote, the council decided against a malpractice suit to recover part of the fees.

NOVEMBER 2000: Judge Gasper Ficarrotta, 13th Judicial Circuit, ordered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football organization to pay legal fees after refusing to turn over public records revealing how they made money from publicly financed Raymond James Stadium. The Hillsborough County Commission was awarded $32,500 and the Tampa Sports Authority, $15,000 in the suit.

SEPTEMBER 2000: The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office has been ordered to pay legal fees after attorney John Cascone requested records from the office via certified letter. Nine days after the request, Cascone requested a court order, which states the sheriff’s office must release the records as well as pay legal fees.

AUGUST 2000: In July 1999, a circuit court judge ordered that the Escambia County School Board members attend a seminar about access to government information and pay the plaintiff $904.92 in expenses after failing to provide school board members’ e-mails and an e-mail address book to a parent.

AUGUST 2000: The Miami Herald brought a public records suit against the mayor of Hialeah after the mayor’s office refused to hand over records of phone calls received in the office. When the mayor provided the records, the newspaper dropped the suit. The mayor paid the newspaper $500 in legal fees.

JANUARY 2000: Hillsborough County Judge Edward Ward has ordered Tampa General Hospital (TGH) to pay $65,000 in attorney fees to the St. Petersburg Times and $227,131 to The Tampa Tribune. The newspapers had filed and won public records suits against TGH. In October, Ward had ruled that the hospital's records were public, even thought the hospital converted from a public to a private non-profit corporation in 1997. Lawyers for the hospital are appealing the ruling and award.

OCTOBER 1999: An appellate court has affirmed the initial award of $8,030, plus interest and appellate attorneys' fees, to Barbara Herskovitz, a private citizen. She had filed a public records lawsuit against Leon County. In June, Judge Terry Lewis, 2nd Judicial Circuit, ruled that given the nature of volume of the materials that Herskovitz requested, the county's delay in producing them was reasonable (See December 1998 summary below).

OCTOBER 1999: Judge Doug Henderson, 12th Judicial Circuit, ordered Anna Maria mayor Chuck Shumard to pay a $250 fine after Shumard pleaded no contest to one count of a non-criminal Public Records Law violation. Henderson did not record Shumard as guilty of the offense. The charge stems from the complaint filed last spring by The Island Bystander that accused the mayor of withholding applications for a vacant city clerk position.

JULY 1999: A circuit judge awarded the St. Petersburg Times attorney's fees in a suit against the governing foundation of Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital, even though he previously had decided that the foundation was exempt from state access laws. The case stemmed from the paper's public records request to the hospital and a request to attend meetings.

MAY 1999: The city of Vero Beach signed a $575,000 settlement agreement with Frank Zorc to end all legal disputes between the parties. Zorc sued Vero Beach City Council, claiming the council violated state access laws.

APRIL 1999: The former health-care provider for the Polk County Jail has agreed to pay The Lakeland Ledger $22,500 in legal fees the newspaper spent during its successful public records suit against the company. The Ledger sued Prison Health Services in 1997 to obtain the details of a $500,000 settlement paid to the widow of a man who died in jail in 1995.

DECEMBER 1998: Judge Terry Lewis, 2nd Judicial Circuit, ruled that a private citizen, Barbara Herskovitz, was entitled to recover $8,030 in attorney's fees and court costs from Leon County in a public records suit against the county. Herskovitz claimed that the county was not precise in identifying some 9,000 confidential documents and that the delay in producing documents was unreasonable (See October 1999 summary above).

SEPTEMBER 1997: Orange County paid $35,000 in settlement costs and $15,000 in attorney’s fees to settle a lawsuit stemming from a closed meeting. A county committee had met behind closed doors to discuss a construction company’s protest of a contract award.

SEPTEMBER 1997: Lee County Judge Edward Volz fined former Estero Fire Commissioner Vernon Conly $500 after a jury convicted Conly of violating the Open Meetings Law. Judge Volz fined three other members of the Fire Commission $250 after the three -- Georgia Gates, George Horne and John Kelley -- pleaded no contest to a similar criminal misdemeanor charge. Volz withheld formal adjudication of guilt for all four commissioners, who in return promised not to seek reinstatement to the Fire Commission. Gov. Lawton Chiles suspended the four from office after they were charged with violating the Open Meetings Law in connection with an April meeting. Members of the public filed complaints against the commissioners after a public meeting that lasted only a few minutes. Spectators at the meeting said the commissioners called the meeting to order, voted to purchase two vehicles, and adjourned before most members of the public could get into the meeting room and get seated. The room was locked until just before the meeting was called to order.

JULY 1997: The Martin County Commission agreed to pay The Palm Beach Post $15,900 in legal fees to settle a lawsuit alleging violations of Florida’s Open meetings Law. The newspaper claimed the commission had approved lawsuit settlements totaling $4.1 million in private sessions without making the settlements public as required by law.

JULY 1997: Judge John J. Hoy, 15th Judicial Circuit, ordered Florida Atlantic University President Anthony J. Catenese to pay attorneys' fees of $8,595.90 and taxable costs of $533.40 to a plaintiff in her public records lawsuit. Sandra K. Norton had sued Catenese for the release of documents related to the spending of a $10 million gift from Charles E. Schmidt to the university. In a previous ruling, Hoy ordered Catenese to release the documents.

JUNE 1997: The city of Opa-Locka agreed to pay a $500 fine, $108 in court fees and $500 for a United Way donation after a former city manager pleaded guilty to violating Florida’s Pulbic Records Law. Former City Manager Earnie Neal said he ignored 35 records requests from his predecessor because he thought the requests were frivolous and harassing.

JUNE 1997: The Lantana Town Council voted to pay a local resident $1,426 in legal fees to settle a lawsuit in which the town was accused of violating the Open Meetings Law. The town did not admit wrongdoing. The resident sued after the town released a statement indicating the council had decided not to seek prosecution of former Mayor Robert A. McDonald, who resigned and repaid the city $50,000 that he had deposited into his business' bank account. Town Manager Ron Ferris said the statement was poorly worded and that the council members had not formally decided what to do about McDonald. Ferris said the statement was based on his conversations with individual board members that indicated "a general feeling" that McDonald should not be prosecuted.

JUNE 1997: Judge Robert Boylston, 12th Judicial Circuit, ruled that Ken Peterson, a private citizen, was entitled to recover attorneys' fees from the city of Anna Maria in a public records suit against the city. Peterson had to wait 26 days for records, which Boylston said was unreasonable and constituted an unlawful refusal to produce public records. Boylston also ruled that the city's charge of $112.95 for the records.

MAY 1997: The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that a Miami-Dade Community College committee's recommendation to award a contract was void because the panel violated the Open Meetings Law. The court said that a committee appointed by the college purchasing director to review and rank proposals for providing flight-training services at Kendall-Tamiami Airport was subject to the Open Meetings Law. Because the committee failed to give the public notice of its meetings, it violated the meetings law and its recommendations and the subsequent decision to award a contract to Husta International Aviation Inc. were void.

MAY 1997: Martin County commissioners admitted violating the Open Meetings Law by settling lawsuits in closed-door meetings and agreed to pay The Palm Beach Post $15,900 in attorney's fees. The Post had sued in February after learning that the commission had agreed to settle a number of lawsuits in executive session without taking a public vote on the settlements. The settlements were approved in a public vote when the commission voted to settle the lawsuit by the Post.

APRIL 1997: The city of Fort Pierce agreed to pay $15,000 in legal expenses incurred in a public records dispute by The Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News, although the city did not admit any wrongdoing. The dispute stemmed from a memo written by City Manager Dennis Beach saying that Amy Rippel, a reporter for the newspaper, could not view public documents without a written application, an appointment and Beach's approval. Beach wrote the memo after Rippel published a story against Beach's wishes about the city's ongoing negotiations to purchase a theater in connection with a redevlopment project. Also, the city was charging the newspaper 10 cents more per copy for public records than other newspapers.

NOVEMBER 1996: The Duval County School Board agreed to pay The Florida Times-Union $25,000 for attorneys' fees in a court action filed by the paper seeking the release of transcripts of closed school board meetings. In 1995, Judge Virginia Q. Beverly, 4th Judicial Circuit, ruled that the meetings should have been open to the public and ordered the release of the transcripts. The ruling was upheld in 1996 by the 1st District Court of Appeal.

SEPTEMBER 1996: The 5th District Court of Appeal held that the town of Eatonville must pay attorneys' fees and court costs after violating the Public Records Law. The ruling reversed a lower court ruling that the town was not obligated to pay fees and costs because the town was too small and did not have the financial resources. Michael Barfield sued the town after being denied access to public records related to the opening of a topless club in the town. He sought $65,000 in attorneys' fees from the town.

SEPTEMBER 1996: The Palm Beach County School Board agreed to pay $39,000 in attorneys' fees and court costs to resolve a public records action filed by the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post. The 4th District Court of Appeal had upheld a judgment against the Palm Beach County School Board awarding attorneys' fees and court costs incurred by The Palm Beach Post and the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel in a public records lawsuit. 15th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Moses Baker had ruled that the board violated the Public Records Law by refusing to release a survey that was commissioned by the board and conducted by a private research company. Baker awarded the papers $30,163 in attorneys' fees and court costs and ordered the research company to pay an additional $345.

AUGUST 1996: Judge R. Wallace Pack, 20th Judicial Circuit, ordered State Attorney Joseph P. D'Allessandro to pay $2,054 for attorneys' fees and court costs incurred by the Ft. Myers News-Press after the paper obtained a court ruling releasing portions of a surveillance audiotape recording of a Ft. Myers city council member. The judge had ruled that those parts of the tape that been had been released to the council member's attorney by D'Allessandro's office were no longer exempt criminal investigative information under Fla. Stat. § 119.07(3)(b).

JUNE 1996: To resolve a public records action filed by the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa General Hospital stipulated in court documents that it illegally withheld public records concerning the search for a new president of the public hospital. The hospital agreed to pay $12,100 to the newspaper for attorneys' fees and court costs.

FEBRUARY 1996: The 5th District Court of Appeal held that Dunnellon Mayor Larry Winkler violated the Open Meetings Law by not naming two attorneys who attended a private city council meeting. As a result, the city was ordered to pay nearly $17,000 for the attorneys' fees of Dunnellon police Sgt. Luis Aran, a non-media party who had requested the records.

SEPTEMBER 1995: The 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's order that ruled invalid a contract awarded by the Port Everglades Port Authority. In the case, the port authority's selection and negotiation committee had asked bidders on a port authority project to leave the meeting room voluntarily while their competitors presented proposals, violating the Open Meetings Law. In overturning the contract, the appeals court rejected the port authority's claim that the violation was technical and non-prejudicial to the bidding process.

JULY 1995: The 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's judgment that declared invalid a land-swap contract between Broward County and Nathan and Maria Conner because the contract had not been acted upon by an official county body at a public meeting.

MAY 1995: A 1st Judicial Circuit Court Judge ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Department to pay more than $6,200 to the Northwest Florida Daily News for attorneys' fees and court costs incurred to obtain access to a convicted serial killer's confession.

APRIL 1995: WINK-TV, Fort Myers, won access to a hospital risk management indictment report which the Lee Memorial Hospital had refused to release on the grounds that it was exempt from disclosure. The trial court reserved judgment on the award of attorneys' fees and costs.

MARCH 1995: The Ocala Star-Banner was awarded $5,473 for attorneys' fees and court costs after gaining access to police records dealing with a 1989 criminal complaint filed against a private citizen who later became a city employee. The trial court had ruled that the records were exempt criminal investigation materials, but the 5th District Court of Appeal reversed.

NOVEMBER 1994: Following a court order commanding the City of St. Petersburg to permit St. Petersburg Junior College to inspect and copy certain documents, a 6th Judicial Circuit court awarded the college attorneys' fees incurred in the court action.

OCTOBER 1994: The 2nd District Court of Appeal recently awarded attorneys' fees to a law firm that had sued to gain access to water authority records. The trial court had refused to award Smith & Williams attorneys' fees for its litigation against West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority. Smith & Williams sued the water authority to gain access to records of payments to private attorneys handling water authority litigation.

JANUARY 1994: The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office paid $5,000 in costs to settle a public records suit brought by The Downtown Group, Inc., a non-media party which sought access to appraisal records of certain West Palm Beach properties.

DECEMBER 1993: The Palm Beach Post won $55,222 in attorney's fees and court costs from the Palm Beach Community College Foundation, which had tried to keep its financial records secret, arguing that it was not covered by the Public Records Act.

OCTOBER 1993: The Palm Beach Post won access to a written agreement settling a sexual harassment lawsuit that had been filed against the City of Lake Worth. The city agreed to pay all of The Post's $17,421 in legal fees.

AUGUST 1993: Broward Circuit Judge Mietta K. Burnstein ordered the city of Plantation to pay $4,220 in legal fees and costs to reimburse Daniel and Susan Vermut, non-media plaintiffs.

JULY 1993: The Palm Beach County School District paid $2,800 in legal fees and costs to The Palm Beach Post for refusing to provide copies of a proposal to settle a grievance filed by its former lawyer.

JULY 1993: Hillsborough Circuit Judge Manuel Menendez awarded $11,837 in legal fees and costs to be paid to the St. Petersburg Times by Tampa General Hospital for withholding public records.

JULY 1993: The Florida Times-Union won an award of $23,000 in legal fees from Harry L. Shorstein, as State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, for his office's failure to provide access to investigatory records.

MARCH 1993: The Clay County School District and Superintendent Ann B. Wiggins were required to pay $5,500 in fees incurred by Florida/Tampa Television, Inc. (WFLA-TV Channel 8, Tampa) and reporter Steve Andrews as part of a settlement agreement. Andrews and WFLA sought school construction and fire inspection records.

APRIL 1993: The 4th District Court of Appeal affirmed a circuit court's ruling that the Palm Beach Community College Foundation's financial records are open to the public and affirmed an award of attorneys' fees and court costs to The Palm Beach Post. A Palm Beach circuit judge had ruled that the foundation had to open its financial records to the public and ordered the foundation to pay the Post's attorneys' fees.

AUGUST 1992: The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that the results of a polygraph examination conducted by a private firm as part of a police investigation were public records. The ruling stated that the Tampa Police Department improperly refused to give James P. Wiser the results of his polygraph, claiming that the test was not part of the records because it was held by a private polygraph examiner. The city was ordered to pay Wisner's attorneys' fees and court costs to obtain test results.

AUGUST 1992: The state Department of Environmental Regulation paid $3,875 to a non-media party, Floral Greens International, for unlawfully withholding an environmental study conducted by the University of Florida in which Floral Greens was a subject.

JUNE 1992: A Palm beach circuit judge ruled that the Royal Palm Beach Village Council violated the Sunshine Law when it sold a parcel of land. The judge voided the sale and reserved jurisdiction to award costs and attorneys' fees.

JUNE 1992: The Osceola School Board settled a public records dispute with Orlando Sentinel . The paper agreed not to collect attorney's fees awarded by the trial judge and the school board agreed to drop its appeal and to open all meetings concerning public business. An Osceola County circuit judge had ruled that the school board violated the Sunshine Law and ordered the board not to hold any more closed-door meetings. Circuit Judge R. James Stroker also awarded more than $15,000 in attorneys' fees to the Orlando Sentinel in the ruling, which the school board had appealed.

APRIL 1992: A Dade circuit judge ordered the Miami Police Department to release a civil forfeiture file closed in 1991 to a reporter for the Dade County weekly Miami New Times. The newspaper, which was investigating allegations of corruption in the handling of civil forfeiture cases by former Assistant City Attorney Beverly Linton, sought the file under the state Public Records Law.

FEBRUARY 1992: The state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services paid $44,250 in legal fees to The Tampa Tribune. HRS lost a public records lawsuit over internal reports examining cases in which children dies from abuse and neglect.

DECEMBER 1991/JANUARY 1992: A Lee County circuit judge voided an action of the School Board of Lee County and awarded more than $30,600 in attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs in a Sunshine suit against the school board. Judge William C. McIver ruled that the school board and a committee created by the board violated the Sunshine Law by not properly advertising their meetings.

NOVEMBER 1991: Palm Beach Circuit Judge Stephen A Rapp ordered the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority to pay $17,548 to reimburse Magill Properties for attorneys' fees in a public records lawsuit over a two-page letter on solid-waste removal and treatment.

NOVEMBER 1991: The St. Petersburg City Council and the Chicago White Sox agreed to pay half each of a $100,000 legal bill incurred by the St. Petersburg Times in a Public Records Law case. The case arose from the 1988 negotiations with the baseball team to play in the Florida Suncoast Dome and a refusal by the team to provide the newspaper with access to the draft lease. The Times donated $57,836 to the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information.

NOVEMBER 1991: The city of Delray Beach, having lost a public records lawsuit, settled an attorneys' fee claim by Michael Barfield, a non-media plaintiff seeking access to police investigative records, for $15,000.

MAY 1991: The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services paid $3,568 in attorneys' fees and court costs to the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. HRS paid the fees after losing an appeal in the 4th District Court of Appeal. The agency had sought to withhold records pertaining to hospitals cited for refusing to accept patients.

FEBRUARY 1991: Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille paid $5,000 in attorneys' fees after the court found he had unlawfully withheld documents from a private investigator.

DECEMBER 1990: Palm Beach Circuit Judge Richard L. Oftedal ordered Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille to pay the attorneys' fees of The Palm Beach Post after Wille denied the newspaper access to transcripts of taped interviews. The paper had sought access to transcripts of interviews with alleged sexual assault victims of a suspect in a murder investigation. The court ruled that the transcripts were public records because they were available to defense attorneys in the case under state evidence rules.

OCTOBER 1990: Circuit Judge Vernon Douglas ordered the Hamilton County Development Authority and the city of Jasper not to deed a tract of land to TSI Southeast Inc. after the sale was approved in a meeting held without sufficient notice. The Hamilton County Concerned Citizens Inc. brought suit to stop the sale of land, which was to be used for construction of biohazards waste incinerators.

AUGUST 1990: The City of West Palm Beach paid $6,500 in attorneys' fees to settle a public records lawsuit brought by attorney Frank Kreidler of Lake Worth. Kreidler sought resumes of applicants for city manager, and was told by city authorities he would have to go to an Atlanta consultant's office to review such documents.

APRIL 1990: Circuit Judge Dean Moxley ordered Brevard State Attorney Norman Wolfinger to pay more than $31,000 to the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Today for legal fees incurred trying to gain access to prosecution records in the murder trial of William Cruse. Before Cruse's trial in 1989, Wolfinger denied reporters' requests for copies of autopsy records, Cruse's blood-alcohol tests, ballistics reports and other records.

APRIL 1990: Broward Circuit Judge Patricia Cocalis ordered the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services to pay the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel $7,637 in legal costs resulting from a 1988 lawsuit. The newspaper had sued HRS for access to 10,000 pages of unusual-incident reports. In her order to release all the reports, Cocalis said the agency appeared to be trying to thwart reporters' investigations.

MARCH 1990: Judge John Gordon awarded the Miami Association of Firefighters, Local 587, $5,500 in attorneys' fees in a lawsuit against the city of Miami. The union sought documents pertaining to a special investigative panel the city established to review the fire department.

MARCH 1990: Circuit Judge Kevin Davey awarded $7,000 to an environmental group after ruling that that nine Jefferson County officials violated the open meetings laws on four occasions in 1989. Davey ruled that a recess of a County Commission meeting and several inspection tours were in violation of the law. All the violations related to the commissions consideration of a proposed Texaco petroleum terminal in Lloyd.

MARCH 1990: Youth Homes of Florida paid the St. Petersburg Times $17,000 in attorneys' fees. The youth organization lost a public records lawsuit over access to personnel records and employee disciplinary records. The Times later donated the award to the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information.

JANUARY 1990: Palm Beach Circuit Judge Mary Lupo awarded $4,200 in fees to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel in a case against the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. The newspaper sought access to HRS documents concerning a complaint by one Palm Beach County hospital against another for an alleged failure to treat a patient.

DECEMBER 1989: Alachua County Circuit Judge Benjamin Tench nullified an action by the Gainesville Board of Adjustment in which the board had denied a building permit, adjourned, then reconvened six minutes later and reversed the denial. Tench awarded Darnell Rhea, a former board member who initiated the suit, $833 in legal fees.

OCTOBER 1989: The Orlando Sentinel received $4,500 in attorneys' fees in a case arising out of Sunshine Law violations by the city of Kissimmee. The city had refused access to meetings of a police board created to review use of deadly force by officers.

SEPTEMBER 1989: The Milton Press Gazette was awarded more than $1,300 in attorneys' fees in a suit to gain access to public records held by Pensacola Junior College. The Press Gazette was denied access to information about the college's legal expenses in a labor dispute.

NOVEMBER 1988: The Orlando Sentinel received $6,750 in legal fees in a suit seeking access to records held by the Orlando chief of police. Orange Circuit Judge Lawrence J. Kirkwood held that the newspaper was entitled to the records, which concerned internal investigations of officers.

OCTOBER 1988: The city of New Port Richey was ordered to pay the cost of its unsuccessful appeal of Pasco Circuit Judge W. Lowell Bray Jr.'s ruling that city officials violated the public records law. Those fees were in addition to $22,000 the city already owed to a Tampa attorney who represented plaintiffs seeking access to documents in a civil rights suit brought against the city in 1985.

SEPTEMBER 1988: The Orlando Sentinel received $5,000 in fees from the city of Longwood in a suit in which the paper sought access to investigative records compiled by an independent contractor. The Seminole Circuit Court ruled that the records, concerning suspended police department employees, were public.

MAY 1988: An 11th Circuit judge ordered Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno to pay $5,000 in attorneys' fees to The Miami News. The newspaper filed suit to obtain eight categories of documents provided to the defense in a criminal case.

NOVEMBER 1986: The 4th District Court upheld a lower court's ruling ordering the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to pay The Miami Herald's legal expenses in a public records case. The lower court had held that Sheriff Richard Wille violated the Public Records Law when he refused to release investigation records concerning an employee.

SEPTEMBER 1986: A Broward Circuit judge ordered the Port Everglades Authority to pay more than $3,000 in fees in a suit filed by the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The newspaper had requested documents concerning Port Everglade's attempt to bring U.S. Lines ships to the port.

JUNE 1986: A Broward Circuit judge ordered the Florida Alliance to pay $1,000 in legal fees to the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The newspaper sought documents concerning Florida Alliance's relationship with Port Everglades.

JUNE 1986: Lee Circuit Judge James R. Thompson ruled that the city of Fort Myers violated the Sunshine Law during bargaining sessions in December 1985 between a police union and city representatives. Thompson ordered the city to pay the Fort Myers News-Press' attorneys fees.

MAY 1986: Circuit Judge R. William Rutter ordered State Attorney David Bludworth to pay $48,097 in legal fees incurred by four news organizations in a lawsuit to gain access to information in the 1984 drug overdose death of David Kennedy. The media organizations, the Palm Beach Newspapers, the Miami Herald Publishing Co., the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel Company and Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company, donated the fees to the Florida First Amendment Foundation.

MAY 1985: A circuit judge ordered the Polk state attorneys' office to pay $2,568.50 in attorneys fees and court costs to The Ledger, Lakeland. The Ledger won the suit in 1985 after then-State Attorney Quillian Yancey refused to release records involving investigations completed by his office.

FEBRUARY 1984: The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that Thomas R. Julin and Terri Wood, who as University of Florida law students sued in 1980 to open the selection process of a law school dean, were entitled to $37,500 in attorneys fees from the university. The Florida Supreme Court had remanded the question of fees to the 1st District in 1983, after ruling that the activities of a search committee should have been open to the public. Total fees in the case eventually came to $70,000. Julin, Wood, and Gainesville attorney Sandra Bieber-Allan contributed $50,000 from the award to the FOI Clearing House at the University of Florida (now the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information).

MAY 1981: The Miami Herald and The Miami News were awarded attorneys' fees totaling more than $70,000 in a public records lawsuit filed against the Metro-Dade Police Department. The Herald, which was awarded $53,330.30, filed the suit after Public Safety Director E. Wilson Purdy refused to release certain internal police records. The News, which later joined the suit, was awarded $20,229.92.

Back to Top