MURRAY, Ky. — Murray State University issued a statement Friday in response to WPSD-TV's court filing on Tuesday seeking payment of attorney’s fees and statutory penalties from the university.
The motion asks a judge to award the Paducah television station $40,428.45 in attorney's fees and costs against MSU, as well as $374,850 in statutory penalties.
In February, Judge John L. Atkins in Christian County, Kentucky, granted WPSD's motion for summary judgment regarding litigation by the television station against MSU.
WPSD amassed hundreds of pages of email correspondence, contracts, reports, and other paperwork through multiple open records requests. WPSD then sued the university because the station believed the school continued to improperly withhold or redact documents the public had a right to see.
The Feb. 16 ruling requires Murray State University to produce documents to WPSD without redactions.
Murray State University Board of Regents Chairman Leon Owens issued a statement on Friday in response to WPSD-TV's most recent filing.
The statement reads, in part: "The University has taken no actions in willful disregard of the law with respect to WPSD's requests. As such, WPSD is not entitled to fees and penalties under the Act, let alone fees and penalties in the egregious amount sought. The University has fulfilled numerous requests for open records, in accordance with the Act and without dispute on a near-daily basis, and it takes its responsibility in this area very seriously. After months of unnecessary, unjustified, protracted litigation, and hundreds of hours spent producing thousands of pages of records at a tremendous cost to the University, administrators, faculty and staff look forward to returning all of their energy, efforts and resources to their students, and the amazing teaching and learning that occurs at Murray State University."
Leon Owens is chairman of the Murray State University Board of Regents.
In his February summary judgment ruling Atkins wrote: "The Court adopts the plaintiff's arguments in finding the defendant misused or misapplied the attorney-client privilege, the personal privacy privilege, the preliminary records exemption, and a near categorical redaction scheme at odds with existing law.'"
Chief Circuit Judge John. L. Atkins of Kentucky's Third Judicial Circuit, Division 2.
A scheduling conflict delayed a hearing on WPSD’s motion for payment of fees, which was originally set for Wednesday, March 6. The hearing has been rescheduled to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in Atkins' court.
