Opinion
No. 124444.
January 23, 2004.
Leave to Appeal Denied.
No. 124444. The trial court ordered that plaintiff be given access to certain videotapes under the Freedom of Information Act (MCL 15.231 et seq.) but denied his request for punitive damages on the claim that the denial of his FOIA request was arbitrary and capricious. It was later discovered that the requested items had been destroyed months earlier, after the FOIA request had been filed. On appeal, plaintiff claimed that he was entitled to punitive damages pursuant to MCL 15.240(7) due to the destruction of the properly requested material. Such after-acquired evidence may form the basis for a motion for reconsideration or relief from judgment. But because that information was not known at the time the trial court ruled on the punitive damages issue, it does not provide a basis for claiming on appeal that the court erred in denying punitive damages. Court of Appeals No. 243837.
CAVANAGH and KELLY, JJ. We would remand for further proceedings regarding the appropriateness of punitive damages.