In great news of a first step for those wanting to see President Donald Trump and his allies get revenge on Fulton County DA Fani Willis for her lawfare campaign against them over alleged election interference, Willis has been ordered to pay over $54,000 in attorney fees and expenses over a law her office broke in a case connected to her persecution of Trump.
That law as the Georgia Open Records Act (ORA). According to a court ruling handed down on Friday, March 14, Willis and her office violated the act by withholding, without “substantial justification,” information requested of her office in compliance with the ORA by lawyer Ashleigh Merchant and her client.
Merchant, for reference, represents Michael Roman, a former campaign and White House aide to President Donald Trump who was one of those who faced lawfare at the hands of Willis. In any case, as a result of Willis’s violation of the ORA, the court awarded Ashleigh Merchant $54,103.23 in attorney fees and litigation expenses.
In the ruling itself, the court first found that DA Willis and her office were subject to the ORA. Finding as much, it state, “Defendants have never asserted that the records sought were not public records or were exempted in some manner from ORA. Therefore, the only remaining issue for the evidentiary hearing was to determine whether Defendants had substantially complied with the obligations of the ORA.”
Continuing, the court noted what the requirements of the ORA are and how they can be violated. Doing so, it provided, “Under the ORA, an agency or custodian of public records has three business days, upon receipt of an ORA request, to determine whether and how to produce or permit copying and inspection of the requested records. O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(f). Within those three days, the custodian must either produce or provide access to the records, propose a timetable for doing so, or “specify in writing the specific legal authority exempting such… records from disclosure’ . . . If the custodian fails to affirmatively respond to an open records request within three business days, by notifying the requesting party of the determination as to whether access will be granted, the ORA has been violated.”
The court then noted that Willis and her office failed to comply with the ORA. Explaining why, it stated, “In response to some of Plaintiffs open records requests, Defendants acknowledged their receipt of the requests, but there is no dispute Defendants did not advise Plaintiff affirmatively within three business days (for any of Plaintiffs ORA requests) whether any records would be made available. Thus, Defendants failed to comply with O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(f) and violated the ORA.”
Building on that, it noted that because Willis failed to comply with the law and was utterly unjustified in doing so, Merchant was entitled to the payment of attorney’s fees. It said, “Further, based on the evidence offered at the hearing and the record as a whole, Defendants’ failure to comply was not substantially justified, and Plaintiff is entitled to attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-18-73(b).”
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Later on, the court added that Merchant was entitled not just to fees, but also to the compelling of Willis to release records. It said, “Because Defendants lacked substantial justification for failing to comply with the ORA and no special circumstances exist, Plaintiff is entitled to attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses as well as injunctive relief compelling Defendants to provide certain public records.”
Featured image credit: Fani for DA campaign website