GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Michigan Court of Appeals has sided with Grand Rapids in a lawsuit over the city’s response times to a public records request.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Grand Rapids over a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that the city took over a year to fulfill. The ACLU argued that by taking so long to provide the public records, the city was essentially denying the FOIA request.
However, the state appeals court ruled the city did not violate FOIA law because it did ultimately provide the documents. State law does not mandate a timeframe in which a public body must disclose the records, according to the order handed down Thursday, Dec. 11 by a three-judge panel that included Michael Kelly, James Robert Redford and Kathleen Feeney…