Chiropractor sues state over toll numbers for public records

By The Associated Press

07.16.02

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MELVINDALE, Mich. — A lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court is challenging Michigan's use of pay-by-the-minute 900 phone numbers to get access to certain public records.

David Katz, a chiropractor in this southern Detroit suburb, is seeking class-action status for the suit he filed yesterday. He says the state's use of the toll numbers violates the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

Katz said it seemed outrageous that as a taxpayer, he had to pay to obtain records by phone, sometimes as much as $1.50 a minute.

"All I'm hoping for is for this to be corrected," Katz told the Detroit Free Press. "I don't believe there should be a 900 number for free information. I pay so much in taxes on my business and my home, I don't need another tax added onto a simple phone call."

His suit says that the state lottery, corporations and health licensing agencies set up 900 numbers to charge citizens for information the citizens should get for free because their tax dollars pay for the information and the salaries of the people who provide it.

State officials say they are not looking to profit, merely providing a way for Michiganians to get information more quickly for a fee. They say that the same information is available on the Internet and by mail for free.

Lori Donlan, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services, said the phone number people can use to check health care professionals' licenses charges $1.50 per minute. But she said there were plenty of free ways to get the same information — on the department's Web site, in public libraries and by mail.