$80K spent to fight the release of info
City-owned Memorial Health System spent nearly $80,000 in legal fees in an unsuccessful effort to fight the release of information that two Colorado courts said the public had a right to see.
The tab stems from a January 2008 lawsuit filed by The Gazette and reporter Debbie Kelley, who sought to force Memorial to release copies of contracts showing how much it pays two of its physicians. In addition, The Gazette sought to review a lease with Pikes Peak Cardiology, which rents space at Memorial's Boulder Street campus.
A month later, a Fourth Judicial District judge ruled the documents were public under the Colorado Open Records Act and The Gazette was entitled to examine them. The judge also ordered that Memorial reimburse The Gazette for its legal fees. The state's open records and open meetings laws are intended to ensure public access to government records and decision making.
Memorial appealed the judge's ruling. In February, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling and ordered Memorial to release the records and pay the newspaper's attorney fees. Memorial has since provided the documents to The Gazette.
This week, Memorial and The Gazette agreed to have the lawsuit dismissed after Memorial wrote a $37,500 check to the newspaper. In addition, Memorial calculated it spent $41,000 on its legal fees related to the suit, which included hiring Colorado Springs attorney J. Stephen Mullen.
"Contracts and leases are examples of sensitive, strategic information, which, based on our interpretation of the law and our interest in competing effectively to provide highest quality community health care, are appropriately kept private," said Cari Davis, Memorial's communications and marketing director. "The courts decided otherwise and we honored their judgment."
Gazette attorney Steven Zansberg, whose Denver law firm has represented news organizations around the state in open records and open meeting cases, said the suit against Memorial was "open and shut" because state lawmakers have made it clear public employees' compensation agreements are public records.
"We're frankly surprised at how frequently government entities expend limited resources in fighting these open records and open meetings battles where their position lacks merit," Zansberg said.
Gazette Editor Jeff Thomas said the legal fees paid by Memorial will go directly to the newspaper's attorneys, "leaving The Gazette only with the documents we requested in the first place, and could have been provided for free.
"It would have been a lot less expensive," Thomas said, "if Memorial had simply complied with what Colorado law makes plain: the public's business must be conducted in public."
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