In Dorman v. Madison County Board, an Illinois Appellate Court determined that the circuit court made an error in dismissing a FOIA challenge and sent the case back for further proceedings.
An individual filed two separate FOIA requests for various records, including records relating to allegations of employee misconduct and communications regarding an election. The individual subsequently filed a lawsuit against the public bodies involved, claiming they violated FOIA regarding both requests. The public bodies responded that they had provided records in response to most of the requests but regarding records not produced, the public bodies asked the circuit court to allow them to rely on the unduly burdensome provision of FOIA as the responsive records exceeded 69,000 records (the public bodies did not assert that provision in their initial response to the FOIA request). The circuit court initially denied that request and appointed a special master to review the responsive records, but later issued a ruling dismissing the case, finding that the request was unduly burdensome under 3(g) of FOIA.
The requester appealed, and the Appellate Court reversed the dismissal of the case. First, the Appellate Court determined that FOIA does not authorize a circuit court to appoint a special master to review records or to require a requester plaintiff to pay the costs of the special master. Second, the Court held that although the public bodies can rely on the “unduly burdensome” provision of FOIA to defend against a FOIA lawsuit, they must first give the requester an opportunity to narrow the request.
