AGGRESSIVE FOIA RESPONSE-CITY SUES BLOGGER MIKE BUTLER

An interesting feature of Google and/or Typepad is that a blog owner (me) can see what search terms a user (you, for instance) employs when that user finds your site from a Google search.  I saw that someone clicked on this site based on a search for "michael butler florida attorney".  How my site comes up third out of 58,000 hits for such an inquiry is beyond my understanding, but there it is.

However, my attention sure was drawn to the number one hit on the Google Chart, which was this story about a successful lawsuit by the Florida city of Hallandale Beach against blogger Mike Butler (Yikes.)

That woke me up on an otherwise lazy, snowy winter evening.  After making sure that it was, in fact, another Mike Butler involved--it was, I was interested to find that the city sued Mr. Butler merely because he had asked for some records under the Florida equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act.  Rather than merely refuse the request, and let Mr. Butler sue the city for the records, the city sued him, more or less, for asking.  The court ruled against Mr. Butler, and though he wasn't assessed any damages (that's nice), he is $1450 poorer in legal fees.

I am certainly glad that legal reformers have left the Justice system open for such suits as this one.  Maybe Justice Kennedy, author of the recent Citizens United v FEC case, might want to take a look at the chilling effects of this kind of litigation on the First Amendment.

As one of my heroes, the late Judge Kaye Tertzag, might say "Great country, America".  But, as goofy as this suit sounds, it could be worse.  As another friend of mine, attorney Tom Loeb might say, "It could be worse.  It could have really happened to me".

Best of luck, Mike Butler.  Signed, Mike Butler

 

Comments

[Mike Butler]

Hello Mike Butler, its the Mike Butler that was sued by his own city. Thanks for blogging about the lawsuit. Naturally, I'm appealing the ruling. The judge who ruled against me has ruled in favor of the city on several other cases, all of which were overturned on appeal.

Meanwhile, the city continues to delay providing simple public records requests. And unfortunately Florida doesn't like to enforce its own laws. Florida's Sunshine Law is said by many to be the best open government law in the nation, but what good is the law without any enforcement?