Being sued for seeking government records -- not a molehill

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

I strongly agree djf

------ Forwarded Message
From: Paul Levy <plevy () citizen org>
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 10:07:16 -0500
To: <dave () farber net>, <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Being sued for seeking government records -- not a molehill

But often citizens send in information requests without being certain
that they are ready to follow up by hiring a lawyer and bringing the
case to court if the government agency refuses -- in fact, often the
bringing of a lawsuit is the last thing they have on their minds.
Allowing a declaratory judgment action in this context gives the agency
the ability to up the ante whenever an information request is submitted,
and chills the exercise to the right to seek the public records in the
first place.  It may also allow the agency to select the court in which
suit is brought, perhaps a court that is less convenient to the citizen.
 

There is good reason to allow commercial actors who are rivals for the
same trademark, disputants over ownership of a copyright, or parties to
a multi-million dollar contract, to decide to seek declaratory relief
instead of waiting to get sued while committing large sums of money to
some form of commercial activity. But exactly what is the harm to the
government agency if it has to wait to see whether it is sued over
denial of a particular records request?

Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation

------ End of Forwarded Message


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