Unusual approach

I can't remember seeing a public official held personally responsible for his or her department's legal fines.

NEW ORLEANS - The City of New Orleans is no stranger to lawsuits requesting government records. But one such lawsuit now has Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas on the hook for monetary damages.
The civil court lawsuit was filed in 2009 by the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center when the city and police department under then-chief Warren Riley declined to turn over police records. Attorneys for the group sued to get files related to a death penalty murder case under the Louisiana Public Records Act.

So Riley didn't comply with a request and the city continued to fight it for two years until finally they gave up when Paulette Irons threatened to hold them in contempt.  So they sent Serpas out to take the whipping personally.

To recoup the organization’s legal fees, Bourke went back to court to try to collect under an infrequently used provision in the law in which the “custodian” of government records can be held personally liable for damages.

Irons ruled in Bourke’s favor, rendering a $26,621 judgment against the city. That means the custodian, Serpas, is now personally on the hook for the money – $11,000 in fines and $15,621 in attorneys’ fees – even though he wasn’t chief when the lawsuit was originally filed.

So sucks to be him, I guess.  But, hey, maybe it'll spur the chief to start taking public records disclosure more seriously in the future.  Either that or he can wait for Mitch to scrap Civil Service so that he can force all his employees to contribute to a legal defense fund or something.  You know, whatever comes first.