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Columbus County has agreed to pay lawyer fees for The Assembly and Border Belt Independent, after a judge ruled that the county had failed to comply with North Carolina’s public records laws.
The county had appealed Superior Court Judge Quintin McGee’s order in December that the county pay $74,557 to cover the cost of lawyers representing the news organizations. That fee award reflected the judge’s determination that The Assembly and Border Belt Independent had substantially prevailed in their suit against Columbus County.
But the county submitted a notice of withdrawal of its appeal on Tuesday, a day after county commissioners voted to do so.
Commissioners on Monday did not publicly explain their decision to approve the payment. Neither did County Attorney Amanda Prince, who did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The Assembly and Border Belt Independent sued the county in 2024, after two years of trying to access public records related to alleged misconduct by former sheriff Jody Greene and some of his deputies. Among the requests were communications between sheriff’s employees and county leaders.
Many of the requests were delayed or ignored, although the state’s public records law requires government agencies to respond “as promptly as possible.”
Lawyers for the news organizations–Bradley Kutrow and Joie Johnston from McGuireWoods and Beth Soja from Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press–argued that the requested information was public under state law.
McGee agreed, ruling in the news organizations’ favor three times in 2025.
The lawyers worked on our case in a pro bono capacity but spent more than 350 hours on the case as of early this year. State law allows people seeking release of public records to collect attorney fees from the other party if they substantially prevail in court. While McGee found that the lawyers’ rates and invoices were reasonable, he reduced the fee to $74,557 from the $149,000 that the news organizations requested. State law allows judges to adjust fees in their discretion.