Records requester brought mandamus action against city and its solicitor, seeking to compel them to comply with the Public Records Act to allow inspection and to provide copies of all filings and entries in a pending municipal-court criminal case, and to provide legal authority for their initial denial of his public-records requests, along with awards of statutory damages, attorney fees, and court costs.
The Supreme Court held that:
- Requester’s mandamus claim, which sought to compel city and its solicitor to produce copies of all filings and entries in a pending municipal-court criminal case, was rendered moot;
- Requester’s mandamus claim, which sought to compel city and its solicitor to provide legal authority for denying his records request, was rendered moot;
- Requester was not entitled to an award of statutory damages based on city and solicitor’s delay in providing a statutorily compliant explanation for their initial denial of requester’s records request;
- Requester was not entitled to an award of attorney fees based on city and solicitor’s failure to set forth the specific legal authority they relied upon when they initially denied requester’s records request; and
- Requester was not entitled to an award of attorney fees based on the alleged bad faith of city and solicitor by voluntarily making the records available after requester commenced his mandamus action.