Elected Clerk adds second lawyer to fight journalist’s public records lawsuit, seeks default judgment against Naples City Desk on technicality

Press Release -- Collier Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock is adding a second lawyer and firm to fight a public records lawsuit filed by Naples City Desk journalist Gina Edwards that challenges public records fees charged by Brock.

Brock is seeking to over turn Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt’s ruling in favor of Naples City Desk, in which he said Naples City Desk owes $2 for electronic records, not the $556 charged by Brock.

On Wednesday, Brock’s legal team filed court papers asking Judge Hardt to issue a default judgment against Naples City Desk, saying it failed to respond to Brock’s counterclaim.

Attorney Ryan Witmer responded with a court filing saying Naples City Desk didn’t know it had to file an answer since Judge Hardt had issued a ruling in favor of Naples City Desk on the issues in Brock’s counterclaim.

Brock is represented by Anthony Pires, of the law firm of Woodward, Pires & Lombardo. On Wednesday, Naples attorney Steve Blount, notified the court that he would also be representing Brock.

In challenging Hardt’s ruling, Brock wants Naples City Desk journalist Gina Edwards to prove at a trial that a “scanned copy” of a document is an “electronic copy of information contained in a computer database.”

Hardt granted Brock’s request for a trial in a ruling April 10 and a May 27 trial date has been set.

Hardt, in a March 26 ruling, found that Naples City Desk owes $2 for scanned electronic records produced on 2 CDs, as opposed to the $556, or $1 per page Brock said Edwards owed.

Prior to Edwards publishing critical investigative stories, Brock’s Office charged Edwards $2 for 2 CDs containing hundreds of pages of scanned electronic records related to an audit Brock conducted of his 2012 political challenger.

Naples City Desk lawyers asserted that Brock can only charge the actual cost of duplication for electronic records. Brock asserted that a statute governing court clerks allows him to charge up to $1 per page for any records in his possession.

Hardt found that the same statute requires clerks to charge fees in keeping with the public records law for electronic records stored in a database.

In seeking a trial, Brock asserts that scanned copies of the requested documents did not exist until Edwards made her request and once created, the scanned copies did not exist in the Clerk's computer database. In court filings, Brock said his audit department’s policies and procedures only existed as 206 pages of hard copies in a binder.

Included on some of the 206 pages are notations including what appear to be computer drive locations and file names like this one on page 6 “Q:\IA Policy and Procedure\Current Policies & Procedures\Internal Audit Policies\FAP #3-01 – Internal Audit Policy .doc 9/18/2013”.

Brock Motion for Default Judgment Against Naples City Desk

Naples City Desk Response

Browse the Public Records Lawsuit Court Files

Dateline: Naples, Fla., April 25, 2014

Contact Gina Edwards at 239-293-3640 or by email at ginavossedwards@gmail.com