Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney gave the county’s Attorney General Fani Willis five days to turn over all communication records with special counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee.
McBurney found Willis failed to comply with a request under the Open Records Act (ORA) filed by Judicial Watch.
The Court finds Defendant is in default and has been since 11 April 2024. As already mentioned, it is undisputed that Defendant was served on 11 March 2024 and that Plaintiff filed the return of service on 13 March 2024. While it is true that that return did not immediately appear on the Court’s electronic docket, this delay does not change the fact that Plaintiff filed it — and that it was stamped as received by the Clerk — on 13 March 2024. Because the return was filed within five days of service, Defendant was required to answer within thirty days of service, which would have been 10 April 2024. O.C.G.A. § 9-11 12(a). Nothing in the Court’s 15 April 2024 Order changes that analysis. In its Order, the Court, laboring under the mistaken impression that service had not yet been effected, simply directed Plaintiff to serve Defendant. But Plaintiff already had done so and provided proof of that fact (to include the return). There was no requirement for Plaintiff to re-serve Defendant and the Court’s Order cannot be read as such.
McBurney listed the many actions Willis could have taken to fight the ORA request.
“But Defendant did none of that: she never moved to open default on any basis (not even during the period when she could have opened default as a matter of right), she never paid costs, and she never offered up a meritorious defense,” wrote McBurney. “Plaintiff is thus entitled to judgment by default as if every item and paragraph of the complaint were supported by proper and sufficient evidence. O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55(a).”
Judicial Watch wants documents to investigate if Willis “coordinated with the House Jan. 6 Committee in their investigations.”
Willis has been trying to put President-elect Donald Trump behind bars for alleging trying to rig the 2020 presidential election in Fulton County.
Trump and 18 other defendants pleaded not guilty.
Trump’s charges include “one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements.”
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