ESPN filed a notice in the Indiana Court of Appeals on Monday, announcing its intention to appeal an April 20 ruling in St. Joseph Superior Court that Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) records are not public, according to a report in the South Bend Tribune.
The notice was filed on the final day of a 30-day appeal period, but ESPN has not yet filed its official legal argument, according to the Tribune.
ESPN and its reporter, Paula Lavigne, initially filed a lawsuit in St. Joseph Superior Court on Jan. 15, after Lavigne's formal requests for NDSP records for several incidents involving student athletes were denied last September and November. Following each of these denials, Lavigne submitted complaints to Indiana Public Access Counselor (PAC) Luke Britt, whose non-binding decisions broke from those of previous PACs and ruled NDSP should be subject to the state's public records laws.
On April 20, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Steven Hostetler ruled in favor of the University, determining that NDSP records are not subject to the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA). In his decision Hostetler wrote that NDSP is not subjected to the APRA as the law is currently written, but that he shares Britt's "discomfort" with NDSP's refusal to release records.
