Three Key Takeaways:
- Fani Willis suffered a major legal defeat when a judge ruled that she violated Georgia’s Open Records Act, ordering her to pay $54,000 in legal fees to Michael Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, for refusing to provide requested documents.
- The judge found that Willis’ office was “openly hostile” and intentionally avoided compliance with records requests, further tarnishing Willis’ reputation for transparency and legal integrity.
- This ruling is just the latest setback for Willis, following a similar defeat in January when Judicial Watch secured over $21,000 in legal fees after her office refused to release documents related to her communications with the January 6 Committee and special prosecutor Jack Smith.
Fani Willis thought that she was out of the woods.
She can’t escape her legal woes.
And a judge handed Fani Willis one crushing defeat that left her red with rage.
Judge rules that Fani Willis owes $54,000 to former Trump official
Attorney Ashleigh Merchant represented Michael Roman, an official on President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, in the sham criminal case that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought over efforts to challenge the 2020 Election in Georgia.
Merchant exposed the secret relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade and filed a motion to disqualify her.
Willis’ case was ultimately disqualified from the case after the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that she had a conflict of interest in hiring her secret lover with taxpayer money.
Merchant filed a lawsuit against Willis for violating Georgia’s Open Records Act that argued she “completely stonewalled” Roman’s legal team by refusing to hand over documents that were requested in the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause ruled that Willis’ office violated the Georgia Open Records Act and ordered her to pay more than $54,000 in legal fees to Merchant.
Krause’s decision that Willis’ office was “openly hostile” to Merchant and handled her request for records in a way that “indicates a lack of good faith.”
Dexter Bond, who handled the district attorney office’s open records, was “intentional” in his refusal to comply with Merchant’s request.
“For example, Mr. Bond indicated that he refused to communicate by telephone with Ms. Merchant, despite testifying that his usual practice is to call a requestor to get additional information when a request is unclear,” Krause wrote in her decision.
Willis was given 30 days to hand over all the documents that Merchant requested.
Fani Willis handed another courtroom defeat
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office refused to turn over documents related to the nondisclosure agreement employees must sign, a list of lawyers that Willis brought on after she was elected, and the contract for a media monitoring service that was Willis hired right before she indicted Trump and his allies.
Willis put out a statement saying that she would appeal the ruling.
“I submitted what I thought were pretty simple records requests,” Merchant said in a statement. “They wouldn’t give us anything. They wanted to make it as difficult as possible. “
Merchant celebrated the verdict as a victory for transparency.
She told the Atlanta Constitution-Journal that she was fortunate that her husband was a civil litigator to pursue the case.
The public and smaller companies fighting for public records have to hire an attorney “and then hope and pray they got attorneys’ fees back,” Merchant explained.
“Normally, public agencies want to be transparent,” Merchant stated. “But they did everything in their power to keep documents from us.”
This is the latest open records defeat that Willis has suffered.
Judicial Watch won more than $21,000 in legal fees in January after Willis’ office refused to comply with an open records request for documents related to her communication with former Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee.
Fani Willis is acting like someone with something to hide now that the heat is on her.
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