Man sues Loris, SC, alleging city violated federal public records law
A man is suing the City of Loris, saying the South Carolina city violated federal law by not responding to his multiple requests for records, according to a lawsuit filed in Horry County court this week.
Mayor Todd Harrelson said the situation was a miscommunication and that the city does its best to give information to whoever asks for it.
David Eichelberger has requested video footage from the city for a personal injury case after he said he was injured after slipping and falling at City Hall, according to Eichelberger’s lawyer, Daniel Hunnicutt. Hunnicutt did not provide details from the City Hall incident.
The federal freedom of information law requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by any government entity upon request.
On Jan. 11, Eichelberger sent a request under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act for “any video or audio footage from Loris City Hall ... for the date of Jan. 4, 2021.”
On Feb. 16, after not hearing back from the city, he resent the request via certified mail. The City of Loris did not sign for the letter, and it was returned, the lawsuit states.
On Feb. 25, he emailed the request directly to the mayor of Loris, via the email address listed on the city’s website.
As of this week, there has been no response, Hunnicutt said.
Harrelson said Wednesday that he had forwarded the request to the city attorney for review.
Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, a public body, upon written request for records, shall notify the person making the request within 10 days of its determination and the reasons for it. If the request is granted, the records must be provided or made available for inspection or copying no later than 30 days from the date on which the final determination was made.
More than two months have passed since Eichelberger’s original request for the records. The city has failed to make any proper response during that time, according to court documents. Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, if the person seeking relief prevails, they may be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and other costs of the litigation specific to the request.
Public records in Loris
On the city’s website, no council meeting minutes have been posted for public viewing since 2018. Harrelson told The Sun News that the city’s website is switching to a new system. He hopes those records will be accessible online later this year. He said if people want to see the minutes, they can ask for them.
In 2018, flooding from Hurricane Florence destroyed many records from Loris City Hall. City administrator Damon Kempski told The Sun News that hard copies of important documents were destroyed, including property deeds, personnel files, meeting minutes, business contracts, tax information and historical papers.
Loris had only started keeping digital copies of records a few years before the storm, and many of those documents were the only copies that existed.
In 2019, Loris was late filing financial audits due to a former employee shredding six months worth of documents.
This story was originally published March 27, 2021 at 10:40 AM.
