FOIA Case Dismissed as "Moot" & Sanctions Awarded to Public Body
In Garlick v. Bloomgindale Township, Garlick filed a FOIA request with the Bloomingdale Township, asking for the native format of
an electronic copy of all publicly disclosable data within the Township’s property assessment software system. The Township initially responded that the
requested information could be accessed on its website. Garlick responded that he could only
review the information one parcel at a time on the website, which was too
laborious and asked the Township to reconsider.
The Township responded that responding to the request would constitute
an undue burden.
Garlick then sued the Township arguing that it failed to
respond to his request and that he did not have reasonable access to the
website to retrieve the data. The Township argued that copyright and proprietary claims prohibited release of the data in its native
format but that the data could be provided in an Excel format, which the Township provided to Garlick. Garlick then asked the Township to provide the record in an “SQL Server
database,” which the Township did. The Township then filed a motion to dismiss since the requested data had been provided to Garlick, which was granted by the court.
Subsequent to that case, Garlick sent a new FOIA
request to the Township, seeking all publicly disclosable data within the
Township’s CAMA property-assessment software system. He asked for the data in its native file format,
which he believed was an SQL server database. The Township responded by providing the data in a SQL Server
format. The plaintiff then responded
that the data was not received in the
format it is maintained, and requested the data as it exists in the Township’s
SQL Server database. Garlick sued again, asking the court to order release of the data in his requested format and that the court impose civil penalties, fees, and costs on the Township.
Two days later, the Township responded to
plaintiff’s FOIA request, stating that although the data was exempt from
disclosure because it is JRM’s proprietary, trade-secret, and copyright
protected information, the Township provided the data to plaintiff as JRM had
authorized release of the data to plaintiff. The Township then filed a motion to
dismiss the complaint, arguing that the issue was moot since Garlick now had the data. The Township also sought an award of sanctions against Garlick for filing of a frivolous
complaint. The court agreed with
the Township and dismissed the case finding that the complaint was moot and
barred by collateral estoppel. The court
also agreed that the case was frivolous and awarded the Township sanctions over
$31,000.
This case and the high amount of
sanctions awarded show the dangers of frivolous FOIA lawsuits and potential
relief to public bodies.
Post Authored by Erin Pell, Ancel Glink
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