Willis v. Kansas Highway Patrol

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Larson, J.:

This appeal raises the issues of whether a peremptory writ of mandamus should have been issued and attorney fees allowed when the trial court ruled in favor of a university newspaper editor in resolving the friction between the exclusions from disclosure of criminal investigations records in the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA), K.S.A. 45-215 et seq., and the statement in K.S.A. 8-1611 that accident reports shall not be privileged or held confidential.

While the ultimate issues and rulings are fairly straightforward and focused, the factual…