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.

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