Could LSU Be Forced to Reveal Athlete Revenue-Sharing Payments? A Legal Analysis

Plaintiffs v. LSU I’d Like to Look at Your Records, Please

Tiger Rag, a LSU news outlet for close to 50 years, alongside Piper Hutchinson of the LA Illuminator and Chief Investigative Reporter Chris Nakamoto of WAFB are poised to do more damage to the LSU athletic department than any sanction any NCAA sanction could ever do.

How?

By forcing the disclosure of the distribution or allocation of revenue share dollars. In other words, who on the entire roster, across every sport, got what?

It is well settled that the public's right of access to public records is a fundamental right guaranteed by both the Louisiana Constitution and the Public Records Act set forth in La. R.S. 44:1 et seq. Carolina Biological Supply Company v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 2015-1080 (La. App. 1 Cir. 8/31/16), 202 So. 3d 1121, 1125. Article 12, Section 3 of the Louisiana Constitution mandates that “[n]o person shall be denied the right to ... examine public documents, except in cases established by law.”

The custodian of the record shall present a public records request to any person of the age of majority who so requests. La. R.S. 44:32(A). Subsection A is only applicable to in person inspections and has no application to a written request for copies. Foster v. Kemp, 94-1228 (La. App. 1st Cir. 6/23/1995), 657 So. 2d 68. “Presentation” under La. R.S. 44:33 B. is also applicable only to in person inspections. Foster v. Kemp, Footnote 2.

While the record generally must be made available immediately, the Public Records Act recognizes that some reasonable delay may be necessary to compile, review, and, when necessary, redact or withhold certain records that are not subject to production.

Stevens v. St. Tammany Parish Government, 2017-0959 (La. App. 1st Cir. 7/18/18), 264 So. 3d 456, 462, writ denied, 2018-2062 (La. 2/18/19), 265 So. 3d 773. In such a case, within five business days of the request, the custodian must provide a written estimate of the time reasonably necessary for collection, segregation, redaction, examination, or review of a records request. La. R.S. 44:35(A); Stevens, 264 So. 3d at 462.

The enforcement provision under the Public Records Act is contained in La. R.S. 44:35 and provides, in pertinent part: A.

Any person who has been denied the right to inspect, copy, reproduce, or obtain a copy or reproduction of a record under the provisions of this Chapter, either by a determination of the custodian or by the passage of five days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays, from the date of his in-person, written, or electronic request without receiving a determination in writing by the custodian or an estimate of the time reasonably necessary for collection, segregation, redaction, examination, or review of a records request, may institute proceedings for the issuance of a writ of mandamus, injunctive or declaratory relief, together with attorney fees, costs and damages as provided for by this

Section, in the district court for the parish in which the office of the custodian is located. La. R.S. 44:35 authorizes the court to grant mandamus relief in all cases where a public record is improperly withheld from a person seeking disclosure.

That’s a lot of legal jargon.

Now, to summarize Louisiana law: the public has a constitutional right to inspect public records and the onus is on the records custodian to timely produce the records. This is not LSU’s first rodeo as it relates to public records requests.

As a public institution, it gets them all of the time.

I know of no law that would allow LSU to withhold disclosure of how athletic department dollars are spent. The revenue share dollars are those that the institution is permitted to pay to athletes.

My opinion is that how those dollars are spent will be subject to public disclosure just like any other expenditure from the athletic department is treated.

It is not complicated. LSU will eventually have to disclose the information and may have to pay attorney fees and costs for the failure to do it.

 In short - for the news organizations requesting the documents ... congratulations! You will get your information, but the bad news is - it will be at great cost to LSU athletics.

No way to sugar coat it.