On Sept, 11, 2024 and Sept. 13, 2024 two Freedom of Information Act requests for 2023 financial records were submitted to Billy Cole, President/CEO of the local, county-funded non-profit Supreme Felons, Inc. Cole answered both FOIA requests, claimed that Supreme Felons, Inc. is a “private non-profit” and refused to turn over the public records requested. The denials were appealed, and Cole again refused to turn over the financial records requested. On Nov. 21, 2024, a FOIA instant action suit was filed in the 22nd Circuit Court and assigned to the Hon. Carol Kuhnke. On June 11, 2025, Judge Kuhnke granted Supreme Felons their Motion for Summary Disposition ruling that the person who had signed the FOIA request did not have standing to bring the FOIA lawsuit in the Circuit Court.
The Michigan Freedom of Information Act 442 of 1976 defines a “person” who may submit a FOIA request to include, “an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, firm, organization, association, governmental entity, or other legal entity.” The Act requires a request from a person, other than an individual who qualifies as indigent under section 4(2)(a), to include the requesting person’s complete name, address, and contact information.
The name of the person who signed the FOIA requests, signed the appeals of the denials of the two FOIA requests, and who filed the FOIA suit in the 22nd Circuit Court was Patricia Lesko, the Editor of the Ann Arbor Independent. The suit was not filed on behalf of The Ann Arbor Independent, but rather Lesko filed the lawsuit in her own name (Patricia Lesko v Supreme Felons, Inc.).
On June 11, the lawyer representing Supreme Felons, Inc., Mr. Robert Burton-Harris, husband of the Washtenaw County Chief Asst. Prosecutor Victoria Burton-Harris, argued that because the FOIA requestor Patricia Lesko had included the title “Editor” after her name, and had sent the request from the email address FOIA@A2Independent.com, only the Ann Arbor Independent had standing to sue.
The Ann Arbor Independent is a DBA held by an LLC registered in the state of Michigan. Under Michigan law, DBAs may may not bring suit.
The corporate structure of the Ann Arbor Independent (DBA held by LLC) is common. The Washington Post, for example, is held by Nash Holdings, LLC owned by Jeff Bezos. Google is one of the most recognizable DBAs in the world and is held by Alphabet, Inc.
Burton-Harris argued, and Judge Kuhnke agreed, that because the FOIA requests included the requestor’s title, were sent from the email address FOIA@A2Independent.com, and stated that the purpose of the FOIA request was to publish the public the records in the Ann Arbor Independent newspaper, Lesko was not entitled to bring suit, only the holding company of the Ann Arbor Independent was entitled to sue.
Job titles do not form a part of an individual’s legal name. The Michigan FOIA statute requires a requestor provide a name, an address (any address that conforms with USPS standards) and contact information (an email or telephone number).
The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that a FOIA request need not include a purpose that stipulates why the public records are requested or how they will be used, only that the records requested be identified with reasonable particularity.
Supreme Felons, Inc., in its denials of the FOIA requests was required to cite an exemption from the Michigan Freedom of Information Act under which the records had been withheld, as the Act requires public bodies to do. Similarly, Robert Burton-Harris in his filings in the Circuit Court cited no statutory exemptions (reasons) why the public records were withheld.
The appeal of Judge Kuhnke’s ruling, Michigan Court of Appeals case number 376081, will take approximately six months to work its way through that court. Along with appeals having to do with minor children, appeals of FOIA lawsuits are adjudicated as quickly as possible.
On June 11, 2025, Washtenaw County’s appeal of a FOIA suit (Patricia Lesko v Washtenaw County) decided in the Trial Court in Jan. 2025 by the Hon. Julia Owdziej, was shot down by a Michigan Court of Appeals three judge panel.
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