Second FOIA lawsuit against city of Fort Smith is withdrawn

Whoops. The spam folder strikes again. Fort Smith Attorney Joey McCutchen has withdrawn the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit he brought against the City of Fort Smith on Monday (July 26).

The lawsuit was based upon the belief that Fort Smith had failed to respond to McCutchen’s FOIA request.  However, upon further inquiry, it was determined that an emailed response had gone into McCutchen’s spam folder based upon settings with his email provider, McCutchen said Tuesday (July 27).

Early Tuesday morning, McCutchen told Talk Business & Politics that the information had gone to a spam folder and he would withdraw the lawsuit as soon as he verified the information requested had all been provided. He withdrew the lawsuit Tuesday morning.

“Although a thorough search for any responsive email was made prior to filing suit using the email program’s internet interface, no responsive email could be found,” McCutchen said in a press release.

He said that he deeply apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the lawsuit.

The complaint filed Monday followed two separate FOIA requests submitted by McCutchen on July 19 to City Administrator Carl Geffken and Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman requesting, in part, information regarding the income and expenditures of the Fort Smith City Sales Tax Fund, a news release said. The City Sales Tax fund is dedicated for the use for city roads, streets and bridges and associated drainage. The lawsuit was the second McCutchen has filed this summer.