Augusst 4, 2025
The Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) gives the public the right to access information about the affairs of the government and the official acts of public officials and employees. But in order for the MPIA to have teeth, members of the public must be able to hold the government accountable when it fails to provide requested records. The Public Justice Center filed a petition for certiorari in June asking the Supreme Court of Maryland to review the lower court’s decision in a case that illuminates the importance of courts awarding attorneys’ fees when people successfully sue government agencies to enforce the MPIA.
Sugarloaf Alliance – a nonprofit whose mission is to preserve the unique natural and historical aspects of the Sugarloaf Mountain area in Frederick County – became concerned in 2021 that the County was altering the area’s landscape management plan by moving forward with proposed Amazon data centers without public input and filed two MPIA requests. The County failed to respond. Sugarloaf Alliance filed a lawsuit to compel the County to produce the records and asked the court to award attorneys’ fees and costs for the lawsuit, as allowed under the MPA.
After two years of litigation, the Circuit Court for Frederick County found that the County violated the MPIA, ordered production of the records, and found that Sugarloaf Alliance was entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees. The trial court, however, arbitrarily reduced the attorneys’ fees request by nearly half – even though the County did not challenge the reasonableness of the attorneys’ fees incurred. Instead, the Court came up with its own factors, not found in the law, for reducing the fees, including the County’s supposed “lack of evil motive” for failing to provide the records, document redundancy, and potential taxpayer burden. The PJC then joined the case on appeal, with former Murnaghan Fellow Melanie Babb representing Sugarloaf Alliance. Unfortunately, the Appellate Court of Maryland affirmed the trial court’s decision.
Written by Murnaghan Fellow Sahar Atassi, the PJC’s petition urges the Supreme Court of Maryland to review the Appellate Court’s opinion and clarify that fee-shifting provisions under the MPIA are meant to ensure robust public access to government records. It argues that the lower courts’ reasoning would encourage government agencies not to comply with the MPIA and undermine private enforcement of the MPIA, as fees are the only form of enforcement the MPIA provides in most cases.
The ACLU of Maryland, joined by Common Cause, Disability Rights Maryland, Baltimore Action Legal Team, and the Maryland Delaware D.C. Press Association, filed an amicus brief in support of the PJC’s petition. The brief discusses the importance of the MPIA and the critical role that attorneys’ fee awards serve, enabling nonprofits, individuals, and the media to use the MPIA to advance the public interest, including to pursue police accountability, uphold protections for Marylanders with disabilities, safeguard free and fair elections, determine whether government agencies are complying with court orders, and inform the public about critical issues.
Thank you to paralegal Najá Crockett and administrative coordinator Becky Reynolds for their assistance with the petition. We also thank former Murnaghan Fellow Melanie Babb, who represented Sugarloaf Alliance before the Appellate Court of Maryland during her fellowship year at the PJC.
