A settlementhas been reached between WFPL’s Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and the University of Louisville Foundation in a suit filed by the newsroom over the release of financial records and other documents.
Under the agreement, reached Wednesday, the Foundation, which oversees the university’s endowment, has handed over the requested documents and agreed to pay $15,000 in legal fees.
"It marks our newsroom’s latest victory in our fight for openness in Kentucky’s institutions, and a victory for all those who believe that sunlight is the greatest disinfectant,” said KyCIR Managing Editor Brendan McCarthy. "Our journalistic mission is to push for transparency in state institutions and government and to promote the public’s right to know what is going on behind closed doors.”
The newsroom filed suit in September, seeking access to ethics and disclosure forms, along with payroll and financial documents.
The state attorney general’s office has ruled more than four times since August that the University of Louisville Foundation violated Kentucky’s Open Records Act by refusing to release documents requested by KyCIR.
Read the settlement here.
Disclosures: The University of Louisville is a longtime donor to Louisville Public Media, which includes the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.