Appen Media Group appealed the ruling in its Open Records Act case against the City of Sandy Springs on Jan. 10.
The company filed a notice for the Georgia Court of Appeals to hear its appeal of Superior Court Judge Kimberly M. Esmond Adams granting the city’s motion for summary judgment against the community newspaper publisher.
The publisher of the Sandy Springs Crier and the Dunwoody Crier claimed in its lawsuit that police incident reports were purposefully incomplete and that supplemental reports often made by officers at the same time were also subject to the state’s Open Records Act.
“The basis of the appeal is that we believe that the opinions of Judge Adams and Sandy Springs conflict with the plain language of the Open Records Act which requires disclosure to the public of initial incident and arrest reports,” Appen Media Publisher & CEO Hans Appen told Rought Draft. “Their conclusions are also contrary to the legislative directive for the Open Records Act that it should be broadly construed in favor of disclosure, and any exceptions narrowly interpreted.”
Appen said he believes their claims and request for relief are consistent with interpretations of the Open Records Act by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office and leading law enforcement entities and media organizations since 2002.
After Adams’s ruling was released on Dec. 22, 2023, Richard T. Griffiths of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation said the decision ran against a long history of police incident reports, including being open to public inspection. It also conflicted with long-standing guidance from the Attorney General that the records were public.
Adams’ ruling said that Appen Media Group did not cite an authority directly supporting its argument that the city was wrong in its interpretation of the Open Records Act. Adams said in her ruling that she could not find an authority herself, “although Plaintiff may be correct in its assertion that Defendant’s practice violates the spirit of the Open Records Act.”
