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March 17, 2024 |  By: Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

Phelps County town drops appeal of $80,000 Missouri Sunshine Law judgment

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By Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

A small Missouri city ordered to pay a heavy penalty for its attempt to “intimidate and silence” a critic dropped its appeal Thursday as deadlines approached for important legal filings.

Edgar Springs, a town of 200 in southern Phelps County, must now pay Rebecca Varney $750, plus almost $80,000 in attorney fees, to satisfy a November court decision that found it violated Varney’s First Amendment rights and the Missouri Sunshine Law.

Circuit Judge John Beger ruled that the city’s violations began in 2018 when it barred Varney from entering city hall to view records open to the public under the Sunshine Law. The initial order allowed her to attend meetings of the town’s Board of Aldermen but was expanded in 2019 to bar her from entering city hall at any time after she questioned whether a gathering that included several town officials was an unposted meeting.

“Our rights are worth it,” Varney said. “It’s been hard but I go to city council meetings, I get to sit down just like everybody else. And they have to treat everybody that way.”

In her lawsuit, Varney asked for only nominal damages in addition to legal vindication. Berger’s ruling gave Varney $100 for the constitutional violation, $650 for the Sunshine Law violation and $78,966 for litigation costs and attorney fees. Interest is accruing at the rate of 9% per year.

“This was not a close case,” said Dave Roland, the attorney who represented Varney. “They should have seen from the very outset, it was going to be a loser and they were going to be on the hook for both their attorneys fees and ours.”

Roland runs the Freedom Center of Missouri, providing pro bono Sunshine Law legal services for people unable to afford an attorney. Money gained from rulings like the one against Edgar Springs is used to support other litigation.

Beger issued his judgment after a September trial where the city sought to justify its treatment of Varney. The city appealed the ruling to the Southern District Court of Appeals in January.

Greg Dohrman, the attorney for Edgar Springs, filed the notice of dismissal on Thursday. The next deadline in the case was for Dohrman to supply the full legal file, including a trial transcript, a costly step in a case where the outcome is uncertain.

Reached by telephone Friday, Dohrman said he could not comment on the decision to dismiss the case. No city official responded to a message left at city hall.

In his ruling, Beger blasted the city’s actions.

“The court wishes to emphasize again, the actions of defendants in this case, apparently seeking to intimidate and silence Varney from exercising her rights to examine and be knowledgeable about the workings of her city government are disturbing, especially when considered in the context of the free and open democratic society in which we are purported to live,” Beger wrote in his ruling.

Beger’s decision was very uplifting for her, Varney said.

“The judge’s ruling was so touching to me because that’s what it was like,” she said. “And he saw it and called them out.”

Varney, a longtime resident of Edgar Springs, began looking into city finances after receiving a traffic ticket in 2018. She was concerned that the town’s police force was using traffic offenses as a means of generating revenue and began visiting city hall frequently to review documents.

She also regularly attended meetings of the Board of Aldermen, raising criticisms of city operations and, when dissatisfied with the results, gathering signatures that resulted in a state audit. The audit found numerous deficiencies in financial administration and Sunshine Law violations.

The audit shows that the city will likely struggle to pay the judgment. In the year that ended Dec. 31, 2019, the town took in $109,598 for its general fund and spent $102,267 on operations.

“They had every opportunity along the way to resolve this,” Varney said. “In some bizarre, stubborn and, unattached that I can see to any legal reasoning, they cost themself this money. 

“We all have to pay for that. But you can’t just let them do what they did, it was unconscionable.”

There were numerous times when the city could have apologized, rescinded the orders barring Varney from city hall and ended the case, Roland said.

“I told them, all you have to do is admit that you were wrong,” Roland said. “If you admit that you are wrong, all of this goes away.”

There needs to be a better way for citizens to enforce the Sunshine Law without having to take their communities to court, Varney said.

“What if we’d had an attorney general who, when they took these complaints, would have put the city in remediation if they played like they didn’t know what they were doing was wrong?” Varney said. “But there was no help there.”