The Wrath of the Serial Requester

Ah, the Florida Sunshine Law — a glowing beacon of transparency! It lets any citizen request public records from their government, from emails to budget spreadsheets to, yes, even the mayor’s Post-it notes. But where there is light... there are moths.

Enter the vexatious requester: a rare but powerful species of local gadfly who uses the public records law not as a tool for accountability, but as a cudgel of chaos. These folks file so many bizarre, burdensome requests that government staff begin to twitch at the sound of a printer.

One legendary Floridian asked for every email sent or received by the town in the last 15 years, including attachments — in hard copy. Another wanted the GPS coordinates of every squirrel sighted on city property. (Okay, that one’s probably fake. Hopefully.)

Some go further: refusing to clarify requests, filing lawsuits when their 72nd identical demand isn’t met fast enough, and generally turning sunshine into a scorching administrative sunburn.

Courts now recognize this madness with a label: vexatious litigator. Judges can restrict serial abusers from clogging up the system — because transparency shouldn’t require a hazmat suit and a full-time intern.

In short: sunshine is great. Weaponized sunshine? Not so much.