FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office was ordered to pay more than $54,000 as the result of a lawsuit alleging violations of Georgia’s Open Records Act.
The lawsuit was brought by attorney Ashleigh Merchant and the Merchant Law Firm.
Merchant represents Michael Roman, a 2020 Trump campaign staffer who was one of the defendants alongside President Donald Trump in the Fulton County election interference RICO case.
Merchant sought attorney’s fees and injunctive relief for claims that District Attorney Fani Willis and the Fulton County DA’s office had failed to provide records requested by the attorney.
The Fulton County DA’s Office told Channel 2 Action News they plan to appeal the ruling.
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Citing state statute, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause ruled that “an agency or custodian of public records has three business days, upon receipt of an ORA request, to determine whether and how to produce or permit copying and inspection of the requested records.”
Krause said in the Final Judgment Order filed Friday that the DA’s office and Willis had failed to comply with the records laws, saying that the “failure to comply was not substantially justified,” and no records were made available.
At hearings over the records being provided, the judge said that “through the Open Records custodian, Dexter Bond - were openly hostile to counsel for Plaintiff, Ms. Merchant, and testified that Ms. Merchant’s requests were handled differently than other requests.”
The judge’s order cites multiple examples of taking a different process for requests by Merchant compared to others, in a way indicating “lack of good faith.”
As a result of this behavior, Krause awarded fees and expenses to be paid to Merchant for a total of $54,103.23.
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Willis and the Fulton County DA’s Office have 30 days from March 14 to provide those funds and must certify under oath that they will comply with the order, not only paying the fees but “performing appropriate searches of all employee emails and DA’s Office files and records” to make sure all locations for documents requested are searched.
Afterward, the documents must be provided without redaction, alteration, deletion or modification in any way but as necessary to protect sensitive information in accordance with state law.
The DA’s office will also have to explain all efforts taken to find the documents, including detailing the searches conducted, in writing, according to the judge’s order.
Should this not occur, the judge said Merchant can be awarded attorney’s fees and expenses incurred for getting the DA’s office to comply with the order.
In a statement online after the ruling, Merchant posted that she was “proud that we have judges willing to hold people in power accountable when they ignore the law.”
Proud that we have judges willing to hold people in power accountable when they ignore the law!!!! #faniwillis #openrecords #fultoncounty https://t.co/r1FFPMFf6J
— Ashleigh Merchant (@AshleighMerchan) March 14, 2025
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