ST. LOUIS — A well-publicized lawsuit that attorney Elad Gross filed against the city over state open records law violations spurred a sharp rebuke this week from Judge Michael Stelzer, who told the Missouri attorney general candidate to refile his “unnecessarily long,†273-page lawsuit with a shorter word count.
Gross, who in 2021 won a major victory for the state’s Sunshine Law against Gov. Mike Parson’s administration at the Missouri Supreme Court, sued ºüÀêÊÓƵ last year over its delays producing records from the ºüÀêÊÓƵ City Justice Center, the downtown city jail. His lawsuit came as frustrations mounted among journalists and attorneys over excessive delays obtaining public records from the city despite Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ campaign promises of increased transparency.
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The office of city counselor Sheena Hamilton — a defendant in the lawsuit who has faced criticism for her conservative interpretation of the state’s Sunshine Law and moves to — fired back, countersuing Gross for $25,000 and calling his lawsuit a “publicity stunt.â€
Stelzer on Tuesday appeared to side with some of the city’s assertions that Gross’s 102 counts in the lengthy lawsuit were redundant and “piecemealed to inflate the civil penalties permitted under the statute.†He even took issue with Gross’s “inflated†font size and line spacing, which the judge said “purposefully mocks†court rules on style and brevity.
“The court finds the petition is inappropriately lengthy and shows a total lack of regard or deference to the mandates of Missouri court rules and local rules, to the point that the claims are rendered nonsensical,†Stelzer wrote.
Despite the judge’s apparent displeasure with the form of the suit, Stelzer said that dismissing the lawsuit entirely would be “too harsh of a remedy†that might prevent the courts from deciding Gross’s “potentially valid allegations†and “thwart the purpose of the Sunshine Law.â€
Instead, Stelzer gave Gross the opportunity to refile the petition within the next 30 days “to cure these inexcusable deficiencies and legal ramblings.â€
Gross, in an interview Wednesday, said he would refile the lawsuit within the court’s time window. But he said his font size was in compliance with court rules and defended his 102 counts against the city, arguing the large number is due to the city’s repeated delays in producing public records and shows a “pattern†of violations “designed to delay the production of these records.â€
“I don’t think the city should be able to get away with violating the law as many times as it wants after violating it one time,†Gross said.
Gross ran for Missouri attorney general in 2020, losing to attorney Rich Finneran in the 2020 Democratic Party primary. He is running as a Democrat again for the office currently held by Republican Andrew Bailey.
Gross’ lawsuit stems from his 2021 requests for video of assaults that occurred at the jail in August 2021 as well as emails, texts and reports regarding the assaults. He says he requested the documents on behalf of Robert Childs, who was detained at the city jail and suffered injuries after disturbances at the jail when detainees escaped due to failing cell locks.
Childs was also a plaintiff in the Sunshine Law lawsuit, but Stelzer ruled that Childs lacked standing to be a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Gross said he would contest that and provide additional information showing the requests were made on Childs’ behalf when he refiles the lawsuit.
The city has since provided the records Gross requested, he said, and they were used to file a lawsuit in August against the city on Childs’ behalf in federal court. He said that shows why he needs to continue fighting against the city’s efforts to delay production of records.
“There’s no way right now for me or other attorneys to have any belief that we’re going to get records in a timely manner, and that practice needs to end,†Gross said.
A city spokesman declined to comment.