Hold the presses:  The City of Malden filed its 4th (FOURTH) lawsuit late last night (December 16, 2024, at 10:50PM).

Is four the magic number of lawsuits?

In each suit, Malden has asked the Court to simply exempt them from the public records law, at least with respect to any request made by Mr. Friedman and Open Commonwealth. Malden seeks to have Mr. Friedman deemed a “harasser”, something the Supervisor of Public Records has consistently refused to do.

Documents from the Four lawsuits can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/nz7sf4uja22ckek3sw6b7/AN9PWTYcQwVpWEGN02yNL90?rlkey=yzz00k9zp6ff5lk435ivm4ada&st=q3j66a6m&dl=0

Malden has also recently sued the Massachusetts Attorney General to prevent release of records under the Open Meeting Law:  

Some of the case documents can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/pkiyebgvptxlszd93sp7o/APQT-rXjXWhAjzdULQq1ZKg?rlkey=5kqvugk3gssgwg9emh2u9iuv4&st=wt020s3h&dl=0

Malden has also failed to provide records requested and required in discovery in a case filed by a social equity candidate seeking a cannabis license.

Some of the case documents can be found here: 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jufkualvjvgxdy2g6buz5/AFJU9wuJ-wxU7oBxR4sYjL8?rlkey=xt1tr93aqgicjytaeoywqnelo&st=c1xfcpo3&dl=0

The law as it pertains to harassment via public records can be found here:

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/Parti/Titlex/Chapter66/Section10

The law as it pertains to Open Meeting Law records can be found here:

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIII/Chapter30a/section20

Mr. Friedman’s website, OpenCommonwealth, where he broadly disseminates documents obtained from his public records requests can be found here:

https://opencommonwealth.org