posted April 4 -

Members of the public who request records through the Texas Public Information Act should not be sued and forced to pay thousands of dollars in attorney fees because they received the information.

That’s what attorneys representing several defendants in such a lawsuit told a judge in Bee County on Thursday.

District Court Judge Mike Welborn apparently agreed, and dismissed the lawsuit filed by Coastal Bend College against five defendants, including the Beeville Bee-Picayune.

“The bleeding has to stop in this case at some point,” Welborn told the attorneys.

The lawsuit requested the defendants return copies of DVD disks that contained “thousands” of personal e-mails between college employees and the college’s attorney, as well as confidential personnel information on college employees, such as Social Security numbers.

Coastal Bend College filed the lawsuit last June against Anthony Sanders, Giancarlo Nisimblat, Robert Hilliard, Jose Briceno, Rev. John Wiley Fox, Oiram Salinas, Fred McCutchon, Scott Reese Willey and Christopher Maher.

Sanders is a former computer specialist for Coastal Bend College. He is accused of copying thousands of e-mails and confidential personnel information, such as Social Security numbers, off CBC computers without authorization and turning two DVD disks of the information over to a Jim Wells District Court for safekeeping.

Sanders told the judge that the information had been requested by another party through the Texas Public Information Act and that he feared the college would destroy the records and e-mails to keep from handing them over to the those making the requests.

The lawsuit also named Sanders’ attorney Nisimblat; attorney Hilliard and paralegal Briceno, who represent former CBC employees in a separate lawsuit; Alice businessman Fox, who made additional copies of the DVDs for Sanders; McCutchon, who represents a former CBC employee who is suing the college; Alice Echo News Journal reporter Maher and Bee-Picayune editor Willey.

Four of the defendants — McCutchon, Hilliard, Maher and Willey — obtained copies of the disks through the Texas Public Information Act. Nisimblat received the disk from Sanders and turned it over to the Jim Wells District Court on behalf of his client. Briceno, who works for an attorney, handled the disk and Salinas, who also works for an attorney, signed his name to Texas Public Information Act request form.

A Jim Wells District Court judge last fall ordered the defendants to return all copies of the DVD disks and ordered the disks sealed from public view.

However, Coastal Bend College, through its attorneys, asked Welborn on Thursday to allow them to proceed with the lawsuit in order to recover “tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees” incurred by CBC in its efforts to recover the disks and have them sealed.

Corpus Christi attorney Philip McKinney and Austin attorney Larry York, who represent the college, say CBC is continuing to rack up legal expenses because some of the defendants have appealed the ruling to seal the DVDs.

But Beeville attorney Mike Appell, who is representing the two newspapers named in the lawsuit, said his clients should be dismissed from the lawsuit because they did nothing illegal but simply requested and received the records through the Texas Public Information Act. Appell said both newspapers promptly returned the disks when they were ordered to and should not be expected to pay the college’s legal expenses.

Welborn said Thursday that Sanders appeared to be the defendant “most culpable” in the lawsuit. Welborn said the college could pursue efforts to seek attorney fees from Sanders if it so chooses.

However, Welborn dismissed the lawsuit against the other defendants who requested the information through the Texas Public Information Act, who obtained copies of the DVDs simply by representing their clients, or who simply came into contact with the disks through other legal means.

Welborn noted that the college can still seek reimbursement for its legal expenses in other courts where the matter is still pending.

Willey applauded Welborn’s ruling.

“If members of the public — or anyone acting in the best interest of the public — can be sued and forced to pay legal expenses for requesting and receiving information through the Texas Public Information Act., then they might be reluctant to seek such information and that would defeat the whole idea behind open records,” Willey said.