NOVEMBER 1994: Following a court order commanding the City of St. Petersburg to permit St. Petersburg Junior College to inspect and copy certain documents, a 6th Judicial Circuit court awarded the college attorneys' fees incurred in the court action.

OCTOBER 1994: The 2nd District Court of Appeal recently awarded attorneys' fees to a law firm that had sued to gain access to water authority records. The trial court had refused to award Smith & Williams attorneys' fees for its litigation against West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority. Smith & Williams sued the water authority to gain access to records of payments to private attorneys handling water authority litigation.

JANUARY 1994: The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office paid $5,000 in costs to settle a public records suit brought by The Downtown Group, Inc., a non-media party which sought access to appraisal records of certain West Palm Beach properties.

DECEMBER 1993: The Palm Beach Post won $55,222 in attorney's fees and court costs from the Palm Beach Community College Foundation, which had tried to keep its financial records secret, arguing that it was not covered by the Public Records Act.

OCTOBER 1993: The Palm Beach Post won access to a written agreement settling a sexual harassment lawsuit that had been filed against the City of Lake Worth. The city agreed to pay all of The Post's $17,421 in legal fees.

AUGUST 1993: Broward Circuit Judge Mietta K. Burnstein ordered the city of Plantation to pay $4,220 in legal fees and costs to reimburse Daniel and Susan Vermut, non-media plaintiffs.

JULY 1993: The Palm Beach County School District paid $2,800 in legal fees and costs to The Palm Beach Post for refusing to provide copies of a proposal to settle a grievance filed by its former lawyer.

JULY 1993: Hillsborough Circuit Judge Manuel Menendez awarded $11,837 in legal fees and costs to be paid to the St. Petersburg Times by Tampa General Hospital for withholding public records.

JULY 1993: The Florida Times-Union won an award of $23,000 in legal fees from Harry L. Shorstein, as State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, for his office's failure to provide access to investigatory records.

MARCH 1993: The Clay County School District and Superintendent Ann B. Wiggins were required to pay $5,500 in fees incurred by Florida/Tampa Television, Inc. (WFLA-TV Channel 8, Tampa) and reporter Steve Andrews as part of a settlement agreement. Andrews and WFLA sought school construction and fire inspection records.

APRIL 1993: The 4th District Court of Appeal affirmed a circuit court's ruling that the Palm Beach Community College Foundation's financial records are open to the public and affirmed an award of attorneys' fees and court costs to The Palm Beach Post. A Palm Beach circuit judge had ruled that the foundation had to open its financial records to the public and ordered the foundation to pay the Post's attorneys' fees.

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