Depoyster v. Cole

In Depoyster v. Cole, 298 Ark. 203, 766 S.W.2d 606 (1989), the Court quoted from an article published in 1987 Arkansas Law Notes, and explained that " t he court need not . . . make a fee award in every FOIA case; indeed, the purpose of the fee-shifting provision is to assess fees and costs where public officials have acted arbitrarily or in bad faith in withholding records." Id. at 208, 766 S.W.2d at 609 The court also stated that "we do not imply by this opinion that an award of litigation expenses under the FOIA will always be defeated in the absence of arbitrary or bad faith conduct on the part of the defendant." Id.