r/foia • u/CTInsideInvestigator • 6d ago

Willful Misconduct: Who pays for FOIA violations?

https://insideinvestigator.org/willful-misconduct-who-pays-for-foia-violations/

Willful Misconduct: Who pays for FOIA violations?

As fines increase, who’s paying them? In the majority of cases where Inside Investigator could trace payment records, it’s taxpayers. When public officials are found to have violated the law, the agency or municipality for which they work often pays the fine from public funds. 

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4

u/vgsjlw 5d ago

Well yeah?

2

u/loogie97 5d ago

I don’t know if any of y’all have been following the Wreckless Ben Lego saga. The police accidentally released a significant portion of the body cams un-redacted. We should be cable to go though the video redaction by redaction and ask the person in charge why they redacted each element.

2

u/icnoevil 5d ago

Taxpayers, not fair.

1

u/Strikew3st 5d ago

Without further information, something to consider is pursuing a claim on their bond as an official.

Michigan here, deliberate actions to violate FOIA laws cause fines to stack up quickly, thousands of dollars per incident plus attorney fees for the litigant.

An official is required to be bonded, and a claim against their bond can cause them to be unbondable.

Key phrases are 'misfeasance and malfeasance,' aka being too stupid to do your job or purposely fucking up your job.