Judge James C. Chalfant Orders Sheriff’s Department to Pay $173,000 in Fees in Public Records Act Lawsuit.
In the August 31, 2011 online edition of the LA Times, Victoria Kim reports that Judge Chalfant has ordered the LA County Sheriff’s Department to pay nearly $173,000 in legal fees to the LA Times incurred in a Public Records Act lawsuit.
The underlying lawsuit involved a Public Records Act request by the LA Times to obtain the names of deputies involved in three fatal shootings. The Sheriff’s Department, supported by the deputies’ union, opposed release of the names.
Judge Chalfant acknowledged that the intervention of the union drove up the legal costs. But the union is not a public agency, and it is the agency that is on the hook for the fees.