CITY OF DANBURYOFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL

155 DEER HILL AVENUEDANBURY, CONNECTICUT 06810

(203) 797-4518 (203)796-8043 FAX

Robert J. Yamin Laszlo L. Pinter Robin L. Edwards Dianne E. RosemarkCorporation Counsel Deputy Corporation Counsel Assistant Corporation Counsel Assistant Corporation Counsel

r.yamin@danbury-ct.gov l.pinter@danbury-ct.gov r.edwards@danbury-ct.gov d.rosemark@danbury-ct.gov(203)797-4518 (203)797-4517 (203) 797-4516 (203) 796-8004

May 3, 2023 [NOTE: sent via email April 1]VIA EMAIL: tntcomm82@cs.com

Andy Thibault, Columnist & Contributing Editor / Investigative Projects21st Century Media Connecticut Group

RE: FOI Requests, City of Danbury Legal Bills and Financial Documents

Dear Mr. Thibault:

The City is in receipt of your Freedom of Information requests to the City for legal bills and related expenses paid to Rose Kallor, LLP, who has represented the City in various legal matters. This letter is to confirm that you have narrowed your request for legal bills associated with DaCosta v. City of Danbury and O’Hanlon et al. v. City of Danbury. Also, I understand that you have requested from Attorney Michael Rose a list of lawsuits in which Rose Kallor has represented the City. Although the FOI Act does not require that a document be created in response to a request, as a courtesy, we have provided that list attached to this letter. Lastly, per your request, upon authorization from the City of Danbury, Rose Kallor sent you the deposition transcripts from the DaCosta matter electronically on Thursday, March 27, 2014.

As you know from a prior case in which you requested legal bills from another public agency in a matter before the FOIC, Thibault v. Paula Schwartz, Superintendent of Schools, Regional School District #10, Docket #FIC 2007-458 (June 11, 2008), the Commission ruled that a town must only produce those bills in its possession and is under no legal obligation to obtain bills from either its insurance company or its law firm. See also Zygmunt v. Town of Westport, Docket #FIC 2010-801 (July 27, 2011). Accordingly, the City will follow FOI law and provide you with copies of documentation in its possession reflecting payments by the City of Danbury to Rose Kallor and reimbursements paid to CIRMA under the City’s deductible in the DaCosta and O’Hanlon matters.

Regarding your request for the City’s financial documents associated with Bernard Madoff, it would assist the City in our search for responsive information if you are able to narrow your request and provide a time frame for these documents. Once we hear back from you in this regard, we will be able to provide you with an estimate for when these documents will be available for inspection or copies.

As for your request to waive copying fees, while the City would consider waiving fees for the indigent, it the City’s position that a for-profit entity such as a newspaper, not the taxpayers, should assume the costs for copies of documents. Note that there will be no charge for documents

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provided to you in electronic format, such as the DaCosta deposition transcripts. As for the remaining items that cannot be provided electronically, please inform me whether your organization is prepared to pay for the costs associated with your document request.

Therefore, we look forward to your response indicating whether you are able to narrow the scope of your request, and/or if you have a monetary limit for this request.  Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Dianne RosemarkAssistant Corporation Counsel

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