APPELLATE COURT SIDES WITH SUPERINTENDENT
IN PUBLIC RECORDS SUIT

(Bradenton, FL - March 11, 2008) The Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland rejected an appeal by local attorney David W. Miner to recover attorney´s fees in his unsuccessful public records suit against Manatee County Schools Superintendent Dr. Roger Dearing.

Mr. Miner initially sued Dr. Dearing in a Manatee County Circuit Court on June 14, 2007, to force him to release two property appraisal reports on a tract of land and office building the Manatee County School Board purchased for $15.75 million. The average of the appraisals fixed the property´s value at $17.1 million. Dr. Dearing claimed the appraisal reports were exempt from the Public Records Act until 30 days after negotiations for the purchase of the building terminated. Releasing the appraisals prior to the termination of negotiations would put the school district at a competitive disadvantage in purchasing the property, according to Dr. Dearing.

The School Board closed on the purchase of the property on June 18, 2007. The next day, at a court hearing on Mr. Miner´s lawsuit, School Board attorney John Bowen announced it was no longer necessary to keep the appraisals confidential for the remainder of the 30-day exemption and agreed to release the reports to Mr. Miner and the public.

Mr. Miner asked the court to award him attorney´s fees for bringing the suit. Manatee County Circuit Judge Paul E. Logan denied Mr. Miner´s request for attorney´s fees, ruling that he failed to show a violation of the Public Records Act. The case went to the appellate court in Lakeland, which rejected Mr. Miner´s appeal just 10 days after hearing oral arguments in the case.

“As I said when he first filed this suit, this is a waste of the taxpayer´s money,” Mr. Bowen said. “We are pleased that two different courts have now recognized that there was no violation of the Public Records Act as claimed by Mr. Miner.”

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