backKing & Spalding served as pro bono co-counsel to The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley in securing a landmark decision from The Supreme Court of California ensuring state and local agencies are held accountable when they improperly withhold public records essential to governmental accountability.
In an opinion addressing multiple matters of first impression, the decision in City of Gilroy v. Superior Court addresses the people’s right to access public records under the California Public Records Act (CPRA). The case arises from public records requests related to sweeps of homeless encampments in the City of Gilroy, which resulted in the destruction of police video camera footage of law enforcement behavior that occurred during the sweeps. The Court ruled that Courts can hold state and local agencies accountable for failure to provide such important information even when the underlying documents no longer exist, particularly when the state or local agency failed even to search for the information or defend why it supposedly is exempt from disclosure.
King & Spalding served as co-counsel to The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley alongside Disability Rights Advocates and Goodwin Procter. King & Spalding partner Neel Chatterjee, a longtime member of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley Board of Directors, argued the case before the Supreme Court of California. Supporting him on the K&S team were Monte Cooper, Lee Yeakel and Paul Watford. More than 40 friends of the court representing such diverse sources like the LA Times, the First Amendment Coalition, the Legal Aid Association of California, The National Homeless Law Center, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, all supported The Law Foundation’s positions.