FOIA Friday: Judge demands Detroit cough up records
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The city's failure to hand over public records elicited sharp criticism — and even bewilderment — from a Wayne County judge last week.
Why it matters: The hearing was part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit we've been following closely to understand why Detroit takes so long to provide public records.
Driving the news: The city admitted in court that it did not search for emails required to be produced last month in accordance with a court order.
- The case involves a moving company that wants information about traffic near Stellantis' east side Jeep plant.
- Circuit Court Judge Charles Hegarty, somewhat begrudgingly, gave the city more time to gather the documents.
What they're saying: "I don't know how to more clearly express the thought that this is a court order, not a court suggestion," Hegarty said.
- "These documents need to be produced and I can't understand what is going on."
Catch up fast: Grosse Pointe Moving & Storage — in business on Jefferson since 1985 — sued Detroit in March after saying its January FOIA request went unanswered.
- The city ignored the lawsuit at first, but agreed to a court settlement for emails, contracts and other documents by June 15 in order to avoid a default judgment in the moving company's favor.
- The city handed over 128 pages — but there were no emails.
The other side: Lawyers for the city offered various explanations, including:
- The law department is overwhelmed with FOIA requests, approaching 10,000 annually.
- The settlement called for more records than the company's initial request.
- "There was a serious attempt post-litigation to try to comply, hence the 128 pages that were produced," Jason Harrison of the Detroit law department told the judge.
The intrigue: Another city lawyer previously working on the case, Danasia Neal, was just fired after the city discovered last week that she's facing felony drug and gun charges.
- Neal was arrested in 2021 when a search of her vehicle turned up 352 grams of fentanyl, the Free Press reports.
- The search was illegal and her case should be dismissed, Neal's lawyer told the Freep.
What's next: A new deadline, possibly in early August, is being set for the city to provide all the records to Grosse Pointe Moving & Storage.
The bottom line: "It's possible the city of Detroit needs to sit down, evaluate how it addresses FOIA matters and fix that process," Hegarty said.