Milwaukee Journal Sentinel v. City of Milwaukee
Annotate this CaseThis case revolved around public records requests of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters seeking dispatch records and incident reports from the Milwaukee Police Department. The City requested advance payment for copying and staff time spent reviewing and redacting the records. The newspaper and its reporters (Newspaper) refused to pay the requested charges and instead sued the City, seeking judgment compelling the City to release the records without prepayment of any fees assessed for redacting information. The circuit court granted summary judgment to the City on the issue of the fees for redaction. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that, in light of the Wisconsin Public Records Law as well as prior interpretations of the Law by the appellate courts, the City could not charge the Newspaper for the costs, including staff time, of redacting information from requested records.
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