Iroquois Co. (ECWd) –
The Iroquois County Public Health Department has denied our request for records a second time and now faces another Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for records the courts have ordered unsealed.
On August 16, 2022, we requested search warrants and subpoenas issued to the health department. The same day, a court order was issued to seal certain records. The requested records were in direct relation to the indictments handed down against the former director of the health department, Dee Schippert which we covered in this article.
After the indictments were made public and the court ordered one of the records unsealed we submitted another duplicate FOIA request and once again the health department denied the request, all while ignoring the fact the courts had already ordered at least one of the requested records to be unsealed as found in the court docket entry of 3/20/2024 ( “The State makes a motion to unseal the Search Warrant. The motion is allowed”)
The other record we requested is not exempt as claimed as the case law on subpenas is clear so we are not sure why they refused to provide that record. Considering a court order released one record and the other is exempt based on case law, it appears they have wilfully violated the FOI Act.
Our recent filing can be downloaded at this link or viewed below. We will update on this matter as it moves through the court system.
2024 FOIA complaint
