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Monday, November 17, 2008
State Agrees To Pay $117,000 in Open Records Suit
Associated Press
SANTA FE — The state will pay an Albuquerque man who claimed the Taxation and Revenue Department was illegally withholding public records nearly $117,000 in a settlement and dropped plans to appeal the case.
The state also has dropped its appeal of a judge's order to pay at least $31,000 in attorney's fees to the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, which joined the lawsuit.
Eric Griego, a private investigator who uses the records in his work with a title company and as a private investigator, sued in April 2006.
District Judge Valerie Huling agreed this fall that the records are public.
Griego had contended the state was violating the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act by alleging that documents such as deeds, liens and mortgage information were confidential.
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