McManis Faulkner recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a San Jose resident to challenge the City’s yearslong history of flouting the California Public Records Act. The complaint asks for a permanent injunction and a monitor tasked with ensuring City officials follow state mandates.
“The people are entitled to [public access to government documents],” partner Jim McManis told San José Spotlight. “They’re entitled to them in a timely way, a complete production, and all these games the City has been playing for years — that’s not going to be accepted.”
McManis Faulkner has a long history of challenging San Jose and its behavior around public records. The firm led a successful lawsuit challenging San Jose over its refusal to turn over emails and texts about a development proposal from former Mayor Tom McEnery. The yearslong legal battle culminated in a landmark 2017 California Supreme Court ruling that found communications on personal accounts or devices are to be public records so long as they deal with public business. The firm is also representing San José Spotlight in a separate lawsuit, filed last October, over the city’s refusal to hand over documents related to the “Tammany Hall” group chat scandal.
“The City’s practices need to be publicly addressed and put to a stop, so that we don’t have to keep coming back with these petitions to compel the city to produce documents they obviously have in their possession,” said associate Hannah Lauchner.
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