CITY OF DANBURY

OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL

155 DEER HILL AVENUE
DANBURY, CONNECTICUT 06810
(203) 797-4518
(203)796-8043 FAX

April 14, 2014 [NOTE: sent via email April 1]

VIA EMAIL: tntcomm82@cs.com
Andy Thibault, Columnist & Contributing Editor / Investigative Projects
21st Century Media Connecticut Group
RE: FOI Requests, City of Danbury Legal Bills and Financial Documents
Dear Mr. Thibault:
The City is in receipt of your Freedom of Information requests to the City for legal bills
and related expenses paid to Rose Kallor, LLP, who has represented the City in various legal
matters. This letter is to confirm that you have narrowed your request for legal bills associated
with DaCosta v. City of Danbury and OHanlon et al. v. City of Danbury. Also, I understand
that you have requested from Attorney Michael Rose a list of lawsuits in which Rose Kallor has
represented the City. Although the FOI Act does not require that a document be created in
response to a request, as a courtesy, we have provided that list attached to this letter. Lastly, per
your request, upon authorization from the City of Danbury, Rose Kallor sent you the deposition
transcripts from the DaCosta matter electronically on Thursday, March 27, 2014.
As you know from a prior case in which you requested legal bills from another public
agency in a matter before the FOIC, Thibault v. Paula Schwartz, Superintendent of Schools,
Regional School District #10, Docket #FIC 2007-458 (June 11, 2008), the Commission ruled that
a town must only produce those bills in its possession and is under no legal obligation to obtain
bills from either its insurance company or its law firm. See also Zygmunt v. Town of Westport,
Docket #FIC 2010-801 (July 27, 2011). Accordingly, the City will follow FOI law and provide
you with copies of documentation in its possession reflecting payments by the City of Danbury
to Rose Kallor and reimbursements paid to CIRMA under the Citys deductible in the DaCosta
and OHanlon matters.
Regarding your request for the Citys financial documents associated with Bernard
Madoff, it would assist the City in our search for responsive information if you are able to
narrow your request and provide a time frame for these documents. Once we hear back from you
in this regard, we will be able to provide you with an estimate for when these documents will be
available for inspection or copies.
As for your request to waive copying fees, while the City would consider waiving fees for
the indigent, it the Citys position that a for-profit entity such as a newspaper, not the taxpayers,
should assume the costs for copies of documents. Note that there will be no charge for documents
Robert J. Yamin
Corporation Counsel
r.yamin@danbury-ct.gov
(203)797-4518

Laszlo L. Pinter
Deputy Corporation Counsel
l.pinter@danbury-ct.gov
(203)797-4517

Robin L. Edwards
Assistant Corporation Counsel
r.edwards@danbury-ct.gov
(203) 797-4516

Dianne E. Rosemark
Assistant Corporation Counsel
d.rosemark@danbury-ct.gov
(203) 796-8004

provided to you in electronic format, such as the DaCosta deposition transcripts. As for the
remaining items that cannot be provided electronically, please inform me whether your
organization is prepared to pay for the costs associated with your document request.

Therefore, we look forward to your response indicating whether you are able to
narrow the scope of your request, and/or if you have a monetary limit for this request.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Dianne Rosemark
Assistant Corporation Counsel