Fulton County Superior Court Finds Fani Willis in Default

The Fulton County Superior Court found District Attorney Fani Willis in default for refusing to hand over documents in an open records lawsuit.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis refused to answer a public records lawsuit seeking records of her communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Earlier this year conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch asked the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia to declare a default judgment against Fani Willis after she refused to respond to its lawsuit related to communications she had with Jack Smith and the sham January 6 Committee.

Last year House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan launched an investigation into whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis coordinated with federal officials during her years-long probe into Trump and his associates.

Chairman Jordan in his letter to Fani Willis requested all documents and communications between or among the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and DOJ and its components, including but not limited to the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith, referring or relating to your office’s investigation of President Donald Trump or any of the other eighteen individuals against whom charges were brought in the indictment.

In referring to Jim Jordan’s letter to Fani Willis, Judicial Watch filed a Georgia Open Records Act request seeking records of her communications with Jack Smith.

Fani Willis failed to respond to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit.

The court found Fani Willis in default.

Excerpt via Judicial Watch:

Judicial Watch announced today that the Superior Court in Fulton County entered an order granting a motion for default judgment against District Attorney Fani Willis in Judicial Watch’s lawsuit for communications Willis had with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee. In doing so, the court grants Judicial Watch’s request for attorneys’ fees and orders Willis to search for and provide releasable records to Judicial Watch within five business days.

In May 2024, Judicial Watch asked the court to declare a default judgment, noting that Willis was served with the lawsuit in March 2024 and had “not filed an answer,” which “was due 30 days after service.”

The recently issued default judgment states: “The Court finds Defendant [Willis, in her official capacity] is in default and has been since 11 April 2024.” Further, Willis “never moved to open default on any basis (not even during the period when she could have opened default as a matter of right), she never paid costs, and she never offered up a meritorious defense.”

By finding Defendant in default, the Court has in effect declared that she has violated the ORA. The Court also hereby ORDERS Defendant to conduct a diligent search of her records for responsive materials within five business days of the entry of this Order. Within that same five day period, Defendant is ORDERED to provide Plaintiff with copies of all responsive records that are not legally exempted or excepted from disclosure. If Defendant is required or decides to withhold all or part of a requested record, she should follow the procedures set forth in the ORA (see O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(d)). If the records are stored electronically, they may be produced electronically in a commonly used format such as PDF. The Court expects that such production will include the correspondence identified by Plaintiff in its complaint. If it does not, Defendant is further ORDERED to provide an explanation why such correspondence does not exist in Defendant’s records (or why it is being withheld). Beyond that, no other relief, injunctive or otherwise, is necessary at this time (to include striking Defendant’s answer, which is of no effect based on the Court’s finding of default).

“Fani Willis is something else. We’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience a government official has been found in default for not showing up in court to answer an open records lawsuit,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Judicial Watch looks forward to getting any documents from the Fani Willis operation about collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on her unprecedented and compromised ‘get-Trump’ prosecution.”

FANI WILLIS FOUND IN DEFAULT: Judicial Watch has filed FOIA lawsuits for 30 years, and never has a government official been found in default by a court for a simple open records lawsuit. This shows you where Fani’s competency/corruption is. @TomFittonhttps://t.co/RnaZp6gj6c pic.twitter.com/waoVDoYBOc

— Judicial Watch ⚖️ (@JudicialWatch) December 10, 2024