Courts Deny FOILers’ Attorneys’ Fees in Nearly 1 in 4 Lawsuits Even When Records Provided and Agencies Have No Reason to Refuse Records

Courts​ ​Deny​ ​FOILers’​ ​Attorneys’​ ​Fees​ ​in​ ​Nearly​ ​1​ ​in​ ​4​ ​Lawsuits Even​ ​When​ ​Records​ ​Provided​ ​and​ ​Agencies​ ​Have​ ​No​ ​Reason​ ​to Refuse​ ​Records

Reinvent​ ​Albany​ ​Analysis​ ​of​ ​100​ ​FOIL​ ​Lawsuits​ ​Makes​ ​Case​ ​for​ ​Governor Signing​ ​A.2750-A​ ​(Paulin)/S.2392-A​ ​(Gallivan)

Reinvent​ ​Albany​ ​estimates​ ​there​ ​are​ ​200,000​ ​FOIL​ ​requests​ ​made​ ​annually​ ​to​ ​New York​ ​State​ ​and​ ​local​ ​governments.​ ​​​​If​ ​an​ ​agency​ ​does​ ​not​ ​grant​ ​a​ ​request​ ​for​ ​records, FOILers​ ​may​ ​file​ ​an​ ​Article​ ​78​ ​proceeding​ ​in​ ​New​ ​York​ ​Supreme​ ​Court,​ ​the​ ​lowest​ ​level state​ ​court.​ ​​​However,​ ​very​ ​few​ ​FOILers​ ​do​ ​so​ ​because​ ​of​ ​the​ ​expense,​ ​time​ ​and​ ​expertise involved​ ​in​ ​a​ ​court​ ​proceeding.​ ​According​ ​to​ ​the​ ​state’s​ ​​Fastcase​​ ​database,​ ​during​ ​the​ ​11 3/4​ ​year​ ​period​ ​from​ ​2006​ ​to​ ​September​ ​2017,​ ​there​ ​were​ ​893​ ​court​ ​cases​ ​in​ ​which members​ ​of​ ​the​ ​public​ ​asked​ ​judges​ ​to​ ​order​ ​agencies​ ​to​ ​release​ ​public​ ​records​ ​—​ ​an average​ ​of​ ​76​ ​​FOIL​​ ​cases​ ​per​ ​year​ ​for​ ​New​ ​York’s​ ​thousands​ ​of​ ​state​ ​and​ ​local governments.​ ​Based​ ​on​ ​an​ ​analysis​ ​of​ ​State​ ​and​ ​New​ ​York​ ​City​ ​agency​ ​and​ ​authority FOIL​​ ​logs,​ ​Reinvent​ ​Albany​ ​conservatively​ ​estimates​ ​that​ ​there​ ​are​ ​at​ ​least​ ​200,000 FOIL​​ ​requests​ ​filed​ ​each​ ​year.​ ​Therefore,​ ​roughly​ ​one​ ​in​ ​every​ ​2,631​ ​​FOIL​​ ​requests​ ​leads to​ ​an​ ​Article​ ​78.