Town of Glenrock sued for hiding public records

GLENROCK —- A private investigator from Cheyenne is suing the Town of Glenrock for failure to release unredacted versions of public documents. 

The suit, filed July 18 in state district court in Douglas, asks Judge Scott Peasley to rule that town officials violated the Wyoming Open Records Act when they refused to release some documents and emails and heavily redacted (or blacked out) significant portions of others. 

First, the suit requests an order to show cause hearing to force the town to explain why officials allegedly did that. 

Secondly, the suit asks for full, unredacted versions of the documents and emails. 

The private investigator, Stephen Miller, wrote in the court filing that he was assisting an unnamed client with a claim of misappropriation of intellectual property and breach of contract against an unnamed party. That claim and investigation apparently did not involve the town directly. 

However, the Town of Glenrock became embroiled in the case in early May when Miller requested certain documents and emails. Those documents related to the town’s agreement with Flatirons Bank of Colorado to act as a sponsor for the bank’s creation of Justice Escrow – known as a qualified settlement fund. 

Justice Escrow is a fund used to hold money from governments and their insurance company settlements from lawsuits and governmental claims. 

Qualified settlement funds provide an Internal Revenue Service standing that may provide tax benefits. They require a government entity to serve as a sponsor. 

“QSFs can be particularly useful in cases involving potential future liabilities, such as those with long latency periods or involving multiple claimants. They can help manage and distribute funds to claimants while also addressing potential future claims,” according to Google. 

The Town of Glenrock has said the documents not released or those redacted were done so because they involve attorney-client privilege and/or were exempt as a governmental “work product,” the suit claims. 

Miller, through his attorney Caleb Wilkins, wrote that they responded to that assertion by contacting the state open records ombudsman in advance of filing the lawsuit. 

“. . . the documents contained in the response were heavily redacted to the point that there was little remaining substantive information. Defendant cited ‘attorney-client privilege’ and ‘work produce’ as the basis for such redactions . . . neither such exceptions apply in this case. 

“(Miller), through counsel has been attempting to resolve these improper redactions since the response (from the town), and defendant (town) has failed to remove such redactions in violation of the (Wyoming Open Records) Act” 

Later in the complaint, Wilkins wrote that by including third parties in emails and with access to the documents, the town and bank already broke attorney-client privilege, if it even existed at all, in this case. 

“The defendant failed to produce the requested records in unredacted form or comply with its statutory obligations,” he wrote. 

As of Monday, the town had not responded to Miller’s suit, according to court records. Mayor Bruce Roumell was out of town and unavailable for comment on the issue.

This story was published on July 30, 2025.