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A  judge has ruled that school board member Matthew Susin delayed production of public records, call logs from his personal cell phone, in a decision, issued Tuesday in the case of Jenkins v. Brevard County School Board and Matthew Susin (Case No. 05-2023-CA-018437).  The decision comes after nearly three years of litigation marked by heated disputes, depositions, and allegations of withheld documents.

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The suit stems from Jenkins’ repeated public records requests in 2022 and 2023 for Susin’s phone logs and text messages. Jenkins alleged that Susin conducted official school board business on his private device, including calls related to a controversial transgender student assault rumor spread by then House Representative Randy Fine. Susin maintained that that the records did not exist and that his phone logs were not public records, leading Jenkins to file suit in March 2023. After a thorough investigation by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the assault was determined to be completely fabricated and there was no evidence whatsoever to support it. Jenkins also requested records between BCSO and Susin regarding the alleged incident and between Susin and Tobia regarding the school board redistricting which ultimately unseated Jenkins from her district.

Although Susin, claimed there weren’t any records, both the BCSO and former County Commissioner John Tobia provided records from their end with communication between the and Matt Susin, completely contradicting Susin’s repeated claims.

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Susin repeatedly claimed from the dais of the School Board that either there were no records, or the records he had weren’t public records. It got to the point that the Board officially requested the opinion of an outside lawfirm on the matter which concluded they were indeed public record. Even after that, Susin still refused to provide them, resulting in Jenkins filing the lawsuit to force the matter.

The lawsuit highlighted ongoing tensions within the Brevard School Board, including clashes over transparency and compliance with Florida’s Public Records Act.  Jenkins’ attorney, Jessica Travis with DefendBrevard.com, argued that Susin’s delays and refusals violated the Act’s requirements for prompt, good-faith responses. 

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Early rulings favored proceeding to trial when in September 2023, a judge denied Susin’s motion to dismiss, stating that the court could not conclusively determine the records were not public. Depositions revealed further drama, with Randy Fine ultimately being deposed and a former county employee alleging that records were withheld and that Susin made disparaging comments about Jenkins.

The order also retains jurisdiction to decide on attorneys’ fees under § 119.12, which allows recovery if a public records request is unlawfully denied. Jenkins’ legal team argued that Susin’s delays and refusals violated the Act’s requirements for prompt, good-faith responses. In 2023, the total attorney’s fees that the School Board had spent on Susin’s behalf was up to over $99k. We are awaiting the fulfillment of a new records request for the total amount spent to date.

The order also retains jurisdiction to decide on attorneys’ fees under § 119.12, which allows recovery if a public records request is unlawfully denied.

This ruling underscores Florida’s broad public records laws, often hailed as a “cornerstone of our political culture.” 

As of Tuesday afternoon, no appeal had been filed, but both parties have 30 days to do so.

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