California Public Records Act Provides for Fee Shifting.
Under our category “Specific Fee Shifting Statutes,” we have posted on the past about the California Public Records Act, which does allow litigants the opportunity to collect attorney’s fees and court costs if prevailing on a request to obtain a release of public documents.
Now we can report that the Burbank City Council this week approved the payment of $39,218 in fees and costs to The Burbank Leader, a news organization that successfully obtained a Public Records Act directive to release public records on individual bonus payouts for Los Angeles city employees. The Public Records Act ruling was issued by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones, with the City deciding to pay up rather than fight anymore.
For more on this one, see Gretchen Meier’s June 17, 2011 post “Burbank to pay Leader’s court costs,” available for reading at www.burbankleader.com.