Illinois State Police Spent $237,316.47 Settling FOIA Lawsuits

Illinois (ECWd) –

After our recent settlement of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), case against the Illinois State Police resulted in our obtaining the requested records and over $20,600.00 being paid to our attorney, I was curious how many other FOIA cases resulted in settlements for attorney fees.  ($20,622.93 Settlement)

I submitted a FOIA to the ISP for all settlement agreements for FOIA cases in the last 5 years. The results are astonishing:

• Sixteen FOIA case settlements in the last 5 years costing the taxpayers $237,316.47
  
• Six of those settlements were with our organization in the last 5 years accounting for $82,016.78 being paid to our attorney
• The average expense to the taxpayer per case – $14,832.27

While we understand each case may have different facts, it’s clear the ISP needs to rethink how it handles requests for public records as there are no excuses for this amount of money being spent in efforts to withhold public records.

A copy of all the settlements entered in the last 5 years can be downloaded at this link or viewed below.