Urbana, Illinois School District Spent More Than $2.6 Million in Lawsuit Settlements

The Bloomington Pantagraph used the Freedom of Information Act to get details about settlements entered into by the Urbana, Illinois school district, finding the school district has spent more than $2.6 million settling claims of students who were taught by now-convicted child molester Jon White.

White is serving 60 years in prison for molesting nine girls at an Urbana school and two more in Normal.

For more, click here.

Landmark Payout in Washington State for Public Records Law Violations

The Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) will pay $525,000 to three girls abused by their foster father for wrongfully withholding public records from them.  

The payout stems from a lawsuit filed by three girls who endured years of abuse at the hands of their foster father, despite complaints filed with the state's Child Protective Services.  When the girls' attorney noticed documents missing in their records request, they sued for violations of the open records laws.   A King County Superior Court judge agreed that DSHS had violate the Public Records Act by improperly withholding records from the girls.  

DSHS maintains that it did not intentionally withhold any records, but that records were missing due to technical errors in response to a voluminous records request.

The payout is the largest sum DSHS has paid in a public records case.

Get more information here. 

Venice cost taxpayers money in delaying settlement

Eric Ernst of the Herald Tribune is pleased with how the city of Venice, Fla., adopted new e-mail policies and increased FOI training. However, the disappointment is that the city accumulated mounds of bills by not settling the case in June. The recent settlement did not differ substantially from the previous ones offered. Taxpayers will now be footing the bill.

If the outside world takes one lesson from the Venice open records/Sunshine Law case, it should be: Fix what's wrong and get on with life.

The city and its eight defendants -- City Council members, advisory board members and a former mayor -- did fine on the fixing.

They adopted procedures to safeguard e-mails regarding public business and they beefed up training.

More here.