The lawsuit against Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams and his office over violations of the Georgia Open Records Act has escalated.
The Georgia Gazette LLC (TGG), represented by Gomez Golomb Graham Goerner & Spring LLP, filed a lawsuit in September against Williams in both his personal and official capacity and three employees of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office alleging that Williams and his employees violated the ORA and are taking unlawful actions against TGG based on Williams’ personal feelings on the media entity.
The Georgia Open Records Act (ORA) is a ‘sunshine law’ which promotes transparency by allowing access to government documents except in very narrow and specific circumstances. The state statute applies to every governmental agency in the state and the actors within those agencies.
TGG, a Georgia-based media outlet, filed requests for information for an extended period of time until an email exchange brought the release of records to a halt. More on that here. As of the date of the filing of the suit in late September, the Sheriff’s Office had not confirmed receipt of any requests by TGG, had not provided the statutory exemptions which would allow the office to withhold records, and had failed to fulfill any requests – all of which are required by law.
In October, attorney Jordan Hanson of The Nelson Law Group out of Evans, GA, filed an Answer on behalf of Williams and his employees. Hanson contended that the Complaint filed by TGG was barred because no claim on which relief could be granted was stated, despite the Complaint seeking compliance with the law.
For every other paragraph of the Complaint filed by TGG, Hanson responded that the “Defendants are without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations contained [in the respective paragraphs].” They supplied this answer thirty-five times in response. In the thirty-sixth response, Williams contended that “Defendants are without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations contained in the Complaint, but deny that the Plaintiff [TGG] is entitled to any relief whatsoever.”
Hanson then responded that Williams and his employees are entitled to litigation costs and asked that the entire complaint be dismissed.
This past Monday, The Georgia Gazette, LLC filed a Motion for Interlocutory Injunction to Compel Compliance with the Open Records Act and a Request for Sanctions.
Specifically, The Georgia Gazette, LLC reiterated its previous complaints that the Burke County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO), at the direction of Williams and his employees, has failed to respond in a timely manner, is improperly withholding records, and has failed to cite statutory exemptions in accordance with the Georgia Open Records Act.
As a result, TGG asked the court to issue an order doing the following:
- Requiring Williams and BCSO to immediately comply with the Georgia Open Records Act by producing all records responsive to TGG’s outstanding requests within three business days.
- Requiring that if the Sheriff withholds any portion of any record, he must provide a written response identifying the specific OCGA statutory exemption for each withheld record.
- Prohibiting further withholding based on any internal investigation or disagreement with TGG’s publication practices
- Requiring the Sheriff to comply with all future requests submitted by TGG in strict accordance with Georgia law
- Awarding civil penalties and attorney’s fees
- Granting such other relief, including attorney’s fees and civil penalties, as requested in the Verified Complaint and as permitted by law.
A judge will likely hold a hearing on the matter, unless he opts to issue an Order without oral arguments.
