PADUCAH — WPSD-TV filed a response Tuesday in its ongoing litigation against Murray State University. The filing came after Murray State's response over WPSD's request that the university pay for attorney's fees and statutory penalties.
The television station’s initial filing asked the judge to award WPSD $40,428.45 in attorney's fees and costs against Murray State, as well as $374,850 in statutory penalties. In the response, Murray State University described WPSD's motion as both "egregious" and "gluttonous."
In Tuesday's filing, WPSD attorneys highlighted what it described as Murray State's “false premise” that the university didn't violate the Open Records Act and shouldn't be held responsible for paying any fees or penalties.
The filing reads, in part: "Murray State University's (‘MSU’) response begins from the false premise that the willfulness of its violations of the Open Records Act is still up for debate. That is wrong; this Court already granted WPSD's motion for summary judgment—which included a request for a finding of willfulness — in full. And it invited WPSD to submit its motion for fees and penalties. All that is left is for this Court to decide how much those should be."
The initial lawsuit stemmed from an investigation WPSD began in 2022 into Murray State administrators and the university's public radio station, WKMS. Subsequent reporting in the spring of 2023 resulted from documents obtained by WPSD.
The documents portrayed an award-winning public radio news department struggling with administrators, particularly Murray State University President Robert “Bob” Jackson, about investigative reporting involving state lawmakers and other public figures and institutions. Jackson served in the Kentucky State Senate from 1997 to 2004.
Murray State University President Robert 'Bob' Jackson addresses a crowd at a campus town hall about the university budget.
Other reporting has included questions about whether the radio station received budgetary punishment from the university.
WPSD amassed hundreds of pages of email correspondence, contracts, reports, and other paperwork through multiple open records requests. Some of the documents came only after a ruling from then Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Murray State violated the law.
The television station then sued the university because the station believed the school continued to improperly withhold or redact documents the public had a right to see. Murray State had repeatedly cited attorney-client privilege and the preliminary records exemption for why the university redacted some portions.
On Feb. 16, Judge John L. Atkins granted WPSD's motion for summary judgment regarding the litigation. The ruling meant Murray State University must produce the documents to WPSD Local 6 without redactions. In his ruling, Atkins said Murray State University implemented, "a near categorical redaction scheme at odds with existing law."
Chief Circuit Judge John. L. Atkins of Kentucky's Third Judicial Circuit, Division 2.
Tuesday's filing by WPSD goes on to read, "MSU cannot sweep its long pattern of obfuscation under the rug by characterizing this case as a narrow disagreement about a few discreet redactions. Moreover, MSU's belatedly un-redacted documents revelated President Jackson's contempt for investigative reporting at WKMS."
Also included in this most recent filing is language that questions Murray State's true intent surrounding the situation.
The filing reads: "It's not hard to see why MSU never wanted this information to see the light of day; it shows that an institution supposedly dedicated to higher learning was in fact stifling free speech and investigative journalism to favor powerful, local interests. What is difficult to understand, by contrast, is how the University, even today, can argue that its behavior was fine. This Court should grant WPSD's request for fees and penalties to send a clear message to MSU that this kind of willful stonewalling is not acceptable from an educational institution in this Commonwealth."
On March 28, Atkins is expected to rule on the motion WPSD filed seeking payment of attorney's fees and statutory penalties from Murray State University.
