In addition to a $3,000 penalty for “bad faith,” levied against Bucks County by a judge in a right-to-know case, records show the county spent nearly $23,000 in legal fees for an outside law firm hired to fight against revealing records as ordered by a state agency.
The case stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic when Megan Brock, a mother with school-age children, filed right-to-know requests seeking communications about the Bucks County Health Department’s pandemic guidance.
“Bucks County acted in bad faith and wasted thousands of tax dollars to bully me, a private citizen, for wanting government transparency,” said Brock. “This is an egregious abuse of power and waste that is unacceptable.”
Brock sought emails from August 2021, when the county suddenly overrode COVID-19 guidance issued by its own Health Department Director, Dr. David Damsker, who said the science indicated more parent-friendly, less-restrictive policies. Instead, Bucks County bureaucrats replaced Damsker’s rules with stricter state guidelines for masking, quarantines, and vaccinations.
The invoices, obtained by Lower Makefield resident Tim Daly through a right-to-know request, showed the county paid $22,944 to the Langhorne firm Bidlingmaier & Bidlingmaier for work it did on the Brock litigation.
That sum is in addition to any internal work the county solicitor’s office performed.
Common Pleas Judge Denise Bowman ruled in Brock’s favor, finding the county acted in bad faith after the Office of Open Records (OOR) approved Brock’s right-to-know requests. The county then appealed that ruling to the Commonwealth Court, where Judge Matthew S. Wolf ruled against it again.
“The trial court’s finding of bad faith by the county employed the correct legal standard and is supported by substantial evidence of record. Additionally, the trial court had no obligation to supplement the record after the county had an opportunity but failed to do so before the OOR. Discerning no legal error or abuse of discretion, we affirm the trial court’s orders,” Wolf said in his ruling.
James O’Malley, a spokesperson for Bucks County, did not respond when asked to comment.
“I think (Commissioners) Bob Harvie and Diane Marseglia are absolutely horrible leaders. They feel entitled to waste taxpayer money to fight transparency. They should both resign from their office immediately and should pay the legal fees themselves. Their constituents should not be responsible for their frivolous lawsuits,” said Jamie Walker, another Bucks County resident, who, like Brock, won her original open records request, only to be sued by the county to prevent records from being released.
Walker, who won her case earlier this month, said she is still waiting for the emails that the OOR ruled she should is allowed to have.