MACON, Georgia:
Earlier this week, a trial court judge granted Ramsingh Legal's Motion for Default Judgment against Ashburn City. The City refused to even show up in court, despite the fact that all of its councilmembers accepted service earlier last fall.
The order not only found the City in violation of Georgia's Open Meetings Law, but also ordered the City to submit to a remedial training. Now that the Court has already found the City to be in violation of the law, the next step is a hearing in early May for determining fees and costs, as well as civil penalties.
Ramsingh Legal represented the Wiregrass Farmer in the case, a small local paper that has served Ashburn, Georgia since 1902, as well as its editor, Ben Baker.
The Court found the City liable on several different counts for intentional violations of the Open Meetings Law. A copy of the order is here:
