Open Justice Baltimore, et a.v City of Balitmore, et al.

Baltimore, Maryland civil rights lawyers sought to obtain information about police misconduct in Baltimore.



The City of Baltimore refused to produce information sought by the Plaintiff and filed a motion to dismiss.



he Plaintiffs have a goal of securing records of Baltimore City and the BPD in

order to better inform the public about law enforcement misconduct. Open Justice seeks

to make reports involving police misconduct publicly available in a searchable database on

its website, called bpdwatch.org. Soderberg and Figueroa — an author and journalist,

respectively — report on police misconduct in Maryland and elsewhere, and seek to

continue their efforts. Between December 2019 and May 2022, the Plaintiffs submitted 18

voluminous requests for records to the BPD and Baltimore City pursuant to the MPIA, and4

asked that all costs and fees relating to production of the requested records be waived.

Those requests — which were included in the more than 200 pages of exhibits made part

of the Complaint — related to, inter alia, records of civilian complaints against Baltimore

City's police officers, plus records of internal BPD investigations, officer personnel files,

arrest reports, and related materials.



The MPIA — Maryland's freedom of information law — provides for a public right

to inspect records of the State and the political subdivisions of Maryland. See Md. Code

§§ 4-101, et seq., of the General Provisions Article ("G.P.”), amended by the MPAA in

2021, G.P. § 4-351(a)(4), (c)-(e). The MPIA and the MPAA together provide, inter alia,

that internal records concerning police discipline and complaints against law enforcement

personnel may be released to the public, subject to certain exceptions. See, e.g., id. § 4-

351(a)(4).



The MPIA mandates a records custodian to review requested records individually,

and determine whether they can be released, inspected, or copied. It also authorizes a

record custodian to deny or limit access to documents in specific circumstances. See G.P.

§ 4-201(a)(1)-(2). The MPIA allows the State agencies to charge a reasonable fee for

expenses incurred in "the search for, preparation of, and reproduction of a public record,”

and, in circumstances where "the waiver would be in the public interest,” authorizes such

agencies to grant full or partial fee waivers. See G.P. § 4-206(b)(i)-(iii), (e).

.

On June 30, 2022 — after receiving what the Plaintiffs allege to be obstructive and

inadequate responses to their MPIA record requests, and facing the imposition of expensive5

preparation and reproduction fees — the Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit in the Circuit Court for

Baltimore City.

Motion granted.



Affirmed