East Central Reporter

A Cook County court has ordered the Village of Dolton to pay $50,614.62 after finding the municipality in violation of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The case stemmed from multiple FOIA requests submitted by John Kraft, which Dolton failed to address.

According to the court order, Dolton did not dispute that it failed to respond in a timely manner to Kraft’s requests. Instead, village representatives argued against civil penalties by stating that the failure was due to "the actions of a few problematic officials" and pointed out that taxpayers had already "suffered enough." The denials were allegedly carried out under instructions from former Mayor Tiffany Henyard and her staff.

The court found Dolton’s nonresponse was both willful and intentional. The judge noted, "This finding is strengthened by Dolton’s pattern of intentionally ignoring FOIA requests. Having found that Dolton’s nonresponse was willful and intentional, the Court is obligated to impose civil penalties."

Although acknowledging Dolton's history with FOIA violations, the court decided that the village's financial situation justified imposing only the minimum penalty for each ignored request. As stated in the order: "As such, the Court will impose the minimum penalty of $2,500 for each of the four ignored Requests."

Dolton requested that any civil penalties be awarded not to Kraft but instead directed toward a third-party organization promoting government transparency. However, as clarified in the ruling: "the only authority that addresses the award of civil penalties in a FOIA case brought by a private party affirms the award of civil penalties to the requesting party. Accordingly, civil penalties are to be paid to Kraft."

The final judgment granted Kraft $40,375.40 in attorney’s fees, $257.22 in costs, and $10,000 in civil penalties.