Kristen Brown
COLUMBUS, Ind. — A judge has ruled in favor of former Columbus Mayor Kristen Brown in her lawsuit against the Columbus Police Department involving her public-records request for information related to an incident involving two Bartholomew County government employees, a parole supervisor and jail commander.
Brown filed the lawsuit Feb. 17, 2017 after she said the police department failed to comply with her request for information related to the Sept. 8, 2016 incident.
Special Judge Richard Poynter, from Jackson County, ruled June 17 that “Brown has ‘substantially prevailed’ in her action” and that “CPD shall pay Brown’s reasonable attorney’s fees, court costs, and expenses incurred in this matter,” according to the court document.
In the ruling, Poynter said, “The Court agrees with the Public Access Counselor that the CPD provided ‘insufficient detail’ to Brown in response to her public records request.”
Poynter, however, did not assess a $100 civil penalty that could have been levied, according to state law.
This story will be updated. Please read Saturday’s edition of The Republic for more details.
