First Amendment & MediaNews

Dinsmore's Jeremy Rogers Earns Favorable Result for Pro Bono Client in Open Records Dispute

July 7, 2020Quotes & Mentions
Forward Kentucky

Dinsmore First Amendment & Media partner Jeremy Rogers represented a Kentucky client pro bono in an open-records dispute against the City of Taylorsville. The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Rogers' client. Forward Kentucky covered the case, an excerpt of which is below.


The dispute arose due to [the client's] efforts to obtain documents related to a 2016 ethics complaint involving the City and three of its Commissioners, and his subsequent use of some additional documents he obtained outside the Open Records Act process.

...

Kentucky Open Government Coalition Director Jeremy S. Rogers, a widely esteemed First Amendment attorney and partner in the law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl, represented [the client] pro bono. ... The court affirmed Rogers’ entitlement to attorneys fees, “including those that accrued in the defense of the appeal.“

The court awarded [the client] penalties of $25 per day, from February 2017 “and continuing until the time the City of Taylorsville and its Ethics Commission provide complete unredacted copies of the public records to [the client].”

To date, the City has not released the records and the penalties continue to accumulate.


To see the full court documents, click here.