Wesley Township sued under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”)

WESLEY TWP. (ECWd) –

Wesley Township is the Defendant in a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) lawsuit filed by Leonard McCubbin alleging violations of the FOIA by refusing to provide requested records.

McCubbin requested video from security cameras, as did I and at least one other person.

My FOIA came back with the Township stating they did not have a copy of the video (we now know that was false).

McCubbin’s FOIA was extended, then the township tried to extend it again in violation of the FOIA. Mean while a photo of a USB hard drive (given to them by McCubbin for them to upload the videos to) was placed on Facebook asking how many viruses they could put on the hard drive and asking if McCubbin really wanted it back.

During a court hearing, it became known the Township Clerk Sarah Norton brought the subject videos with her and signed an affidavit of how she (the township clerk) kept custody and control of the video. She testified under Oath the video was video of the township (which happens to be the same video where two separate FOIA requests were denied).

Why did she think she could deny having the videos in response to an FOIA request, and then show up in court, in a different matter, with copies of those videos?

Sarah Norton, Wesley Twp Clerk

Basically, we believe, based on her delivery of the records to a courtroom, that the Township Clerk lied in her response to my FOIA request, and unlawfully stalled production of McCubbin’s FOIA request until it was ultimately denied by operation of law.

This is routine for Wesley Township and we predict they will be facing several lawsuits alleging violations of the FOIA. These suits will come from local residents who have been denied public records for more than a year.

Read this lawsuit below:

[documentcloud url=”http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6239556-McCubbin-vs-Wesley-Township-FOIA-Law-Suit-7-17.html” responsive=true]
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