Boone Health lawsuit filed by MU professor claims Sunshine Law violation

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A lawsuit filed by a University of Missouri professor last week claims Boone Health violated the Missouri Sunshine Law.

Mark Horvit -- a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and editor of the Columbia Missourian – filed the lawsuit on Oct. 10. A summons was issued on Tuesday for the Boone County Hospital Board of Trustees, Boone Health Inc. and CH Allied Services, Inc.

The petition claims Boone Health refused to produce public records. The Missourian made requests for financial records on Oct. 30, 2023, and Nov. 9, 2023 for a period before March 31, 2021, but were denied, the petition says.

Court documents alleges that Boone Health denied the request because they were not in possession of the documents, though the Board of Trustees received them and that Boone Health operates as a private entity.

“The requested public records have been denied on the basis that (1) BHI and CH Allied are not quasi-public governmental bodies, and (2) that the documents almost certainly in the possession of one or more Board trustees are not Board documents. Neither is a viable legal basis for the refusal to produce the records under the Sunshine Law,” court documents say.

ABC 17 News reached out to the University of Missouri. Boone Health said, "We have no comment on pending litigation."