Court Affirms Victory for Zuckerman Spaeder Client ACLU of Maryland in Battle Over Improper Fees Imposed by Calvert Co. Sheriff

The Appellate Court of Maryland largely upheld a finding that the Calvert County Sheriff's Office violated the law by requiring exorbitant fees as part of a records request made by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland. The August 28th decision is expected to make it far easier for public interest organizations to obtain critical information from Maryland state government.

“The courts have clearly recognized that the fee demand by the Sheriff’s Office ignored the public interest that was inherent in the ACLU’s record request,” said Zuckerman Spaeder Baltimore attorney Samantha Miller Kavanagh. “The ACLU and other organizations play a vital role in ensuring access to information that allows citizens to hold government agencies, including law enforcement, accountable. This case makes clear that government officials cannot arbitrarily dismiss that public interest role in attempting to limit visibility into their actions.”

In 2021, acting under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), the ACLU requested records related to body and strip searches conducted since 2017 by the Sheriff’s Office and, arguing that its request was in the public interest, sought to have any fees waived for the costs of producing the records.  The Sheriff’s Office denied that request and asked for more than $12,000 to search for and produce these public records.

In 2022, a Zuckerman Spaeder lawsuit resulted in a Circuit Court ruling that the Sheriff’s refusal to waive the fees was improper. Late last month, following an appeal by the Sheriff’s Office, the Appellate Court of Maryland issued an opinion that weighed heavily on the side of the ACLU. The Court said that the denial of the fee waiver request was made “arbitrarily and capriciously” and that the “record shows the Sheriff misapplied certain factors in its analysis and failed to consider other factors during the Sheriff’s actual decision-making process.”

Because of an interim Maryland Supreme Court Ruling, the case must be remanded to the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office for proper consideration of the requested fee waiver. However, the Sheriff will have to reconsider its denial in the face of a powerful rebuke from the Appellate Court, along with the public attention that has been generated by the Zuckerman Spaeder lawsuit.

The appeal was led by Ms. Kavanagh, with support from Zuckerman Spaeder Baltimore partner William J. Murphy and ACLU attorneys Debbie Jeon and Dara Johnson. The case is Sheriff Ricky Cox v. American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.