Maine’s highest court rules against agency that withheld public records

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s highest court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling that a public agency in the state acted in bad faith when it withheld records from a nonprofit group.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that the Maine County Commissioners’ Association Self-Funded Risk Management Pool acted in a way that was “deceptive and abusive” when it withheld records from Human Rights Defense Center.

Human Rights Defense Center sought the information about a settlement payment to a Black man who said he had been assaulted by guards at a state correctional facility while awaiting trial, the Kennebec Journal reported. A lower court ruled the risk pool must pay attorneys fees and release the documents.

The risk pool “deliberately withheld access to documents in its possession that clearly were responsive to the request and should have been disclosed,” the high court ruled in its affirmation of the judgment.

The ruling represents “the first time that bad faith has been found in a FOAA case and that attorney fees have been awarded,” said Anahita Sotoohi with the ACLU of Maine, which represented Human Rights Defense Center.

Representatives for the risk pool did not respond to a request for comment.