Case Summary
In January 2011, E&E Legal (under it’s old name) filed a FOIA request with the University of Virginia for e-mails of Dr. Michael Mann, the author of the infamous and widely-discredited “hockey stick” that claimed to show little variability in global temperatures from 1000AD until the middle of the 18th century, with temperatures rising dramatically after that period. The FOIA request also asked for the e-mails of more than 30 other global warming scientists who participated in Dr. Mann’s research, as well as the data used to support their conclusions. The FOIA requests were joined by Virginia Delegate and three Virginia taxpayers.
These emails and other documents relate to claims made by Dr. Michael Mann to obtain, and claim payment under, certain taxpayer-funded grants. Mann, currently at Pennsylvania State University, worked at the UVA’s Department of Environmental Sciences when he produced what was hailed at the time as the ‘smoking gun’ affirming the theory of catastrophic man-made global warming. Despite that lofty honorific, persistent controversy led promoters of this notorious ‘Hockey Stick’ graph (principally, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or ‘IPCC’) to stop advancing it as serious work.
When the University of Virginia declined to provide the e-mails, citing academic freedom, E&E Legal went to court to force them to release the e-mails. Dr. Mann and several of his alarmist colleagues have sought to join the suit as interested parties, and are fighting to oppose allowing the public to see the data and the research-related e-mails.
In response to a previous FOIA request, UVA had denied these records existed. But during the course of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s pre-investigation under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (“FATA”), a 2007 law passed unanimously by Virginia’s legislature that clearly covers the work of taxpayer-funded academics, UVA dropped this stance. Court records reveal that counsel for the University has indicated instead that the Mann-related records do in fact exist, on a backup server. To avoid University delay or claims for huge search fees, today’s request specifically directs the school to search that server. A second FOIA request was also filed in January 2011 seeking donor records of University of Virginia in response to Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli’s investigation.
In March 2012, the Washington Post covered the Mann controversy in an article titled, Prince William climate change case takes center stage.
The trial court held that every email E&E Legal sought can be withheld because the University owns it. This decision is a set-up to have the Virginia Supreme Court decide the issue and E&E Legal has placed the case before the Supreme Court. It is awaiting a briefing schedule that will allow the Court to define the extent of the research data exemption behind which UVA hides. E&E Legal will argue that the marketplace for ideas is not very different from the marketplace for goods and services, and unless the emails give UVA a competitive advantage over other researchers, they must be released.
One of the things that have been disclosed as a result of our FOIA request is that researchers at the University of Virginia apparently did not keep research logs, which are crucial to allowing other scientists to reproduce and confirm the original work. Without these logs, the credibility of climate change research conducted by Dr. Mann and his colleagues is seriously diminished.
On April 17, 2014, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling, and on May 16, 2014, E&E Legal filed a petition for rehearing.
Legal Documents
- May 16, 2014: Petition for Rehearing to the Virginia Supreme Court
- April 17, 2014: Virginia Supreme Court Decision in ATI v. UVA
- November 14, 2013: Appellate Brief Filed with the Virginia Supreme Court
- November 14, 2013: Brief of Amici Curiae Filed in Support of the Appellants by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 17 Media Organizations
- June 11, 2013: Petition for Review: Virginia Supreme Court
- April 10, 2013: Petitioners’ Preservation Of Objections filing
- August 14, 2012: Petitioners Response to Respondents Opposition
- July 24, 2012: Respondents Joint Memorandum Part I
- July 24, 2012: Respondents Joint Memorandum Part II
- July 24, 2012: Mann Affidavit Part I
- July 24, 2012: Mann Affidavit Part II
- July 24, 2012: Exhibit-1-to-Mann-Affidavit Part I
- July 24, 2012: Exhibit-1-to-Mann-Affidavit Part II
- July 24, 2012: Respondents Other Affidavits
- July 18, 2012: Petitioners Memorandum of Facts and Law
- April 22, 2012: Released Non-Exempt FOIA Information re: Mann Part I
- April 22, 2012: Released Non-Exempt FOIA Information re: Mann Part II
- April 22, 2012: Released Non-Exempt FOIA Information re: Mann Part III
- April 16, 2012: Hearing Transcript
- January 24, 2012: Petitioners’ Exemplars
- January 24, 2012: Petitioners Exemplars Cover Letter
- September 2, 2011: Memorandum of Law in Support of Intervenor-Respondent (Michael Mann’s Motion for Leave to Intervene) – Part I
- September 2, 2011: Memorandum of Law in Support of Intervenor-Respondent (Michael Mann’s Motion for Leave to Intervene) – Part II
- September 2, 2011: Memorandum of Law in Support of Intervenor-Respondent (Michael Mann’s Motion for Leave to Intervene) – Part III
- September 2, 2011: Notice of Motion to Stay Production of Documents
- September 2, 2011: Notice of Motion to Intervene (by Dr. Michael Mann)
- May 16, 2011: List of Attachments to the Petition
- May 16, 2011: Petition for Mandamus and Injunctive Relief
- January 6, 2011: Virginia Freedom of Information Act request for Michael Mann’s records at University of Virginia
Press Releases & Videos
- September 18, 2012: Press Release: Update on UVA/Mann Case
- July 26, 2012: Press Release: Update on UVA/Mann Case
- March 3, 2012: Video: Uva./Mann Suit and Climate-gate
- February 4, 2012: Press Release: Status Update on UVA/Mann FOIA
- January 25, 2012: Press Release: UVA’s Central Role In Mann Issue Presented to Court, Taxpayers
- November 2, 2011: Press Release: Welcome to the Case, Michael Mann
- September 16, 2011: Statement: On the Results of Today’s Hearing
- September 14, 2011: Press Release: Michael Mann, Science Colleagues Make Case for Release of Emails
- September 6, 2011: Press Release: ‘Hockey Stick’ Creator Michael Mann Seeks Court’s Help to Ensure No Inquiry, No ‘Exoneration’
- August 11, 2011: Press Release: Ahead of deadline, groups express concern over release of climate-change documents
- August 11, 2011: Press Release: Response to Union of Concerned Scientists’, et al, Efforts to Stop Agreement with UVA to Turn Over Michael Mann Records
- May 31, 2011: Press Release: Virginia university releases correspondence of professor involved in ‘Hockey Stick’ controversy
- May 26, 2011: Press Release: Horner 1, Mann 0
- May 25, 2011: Press Release: Court Orders University of Virginia to Produce Documents of Dr. Michael Mann
- May 16, 2011: Press Release: Plaintiff Asks Court to Dislodge UVA ‘ClimateGate’ and Other Documents That Pertain to Climate Scientist Michael Mann
- April 14, 2011: Press Release: Plaintiff Slams ACLU’s Plea for University of Virginia to Deny FOIA Request of Michael Mann’s Records
- February 9, 2011: Press Release: Plaintiff Praises VA House Passage of Strengthened FOIA Law
- January 18, 2011: Press Release: Plaintiff Denounces Efforts to Block Taxpayer Access to Public Information
- January 6, 2011: Press Release: Va. Taxpayers Request Records from University of Virginia on Climate Scientist Michael Mann
Media Coverage
- January 12, 2012: Virginia court hears Cuccinelli’s defense of climate suit (Washington Times)
- November 14, 2011: Schnare: Why I want Michael Mann’s E-mails (Watts Up With That?)
- October 4, 2011: Mann Suffers Three Legal Blows in Court Escapade (Climate Realists)
- September 14, 2011: Mann Acts (American Spectator)
- August 25, 2011: UVa. turns over FOIA-requested climate-change papers to critics (Washington Times)
- August 25, 2011: Interest group receives U.Va. climate records (Virginian-Pilot)
- August 19, 2011: Suing NASA and UVA (American Spectator)
- August 11, 2011: Groups concerned U.Va. will turn over documents in global warming case (Washington Post)
- June 2, 2011: Horner: A hypocritical response to U-Va. records request (Washington Post)
- April 27, 2011: U-Va. says it will exercise ‘available exemptions’ on climate change records request (Washington Post)
- April 15, 2011: Bird Brains and Others Defend Michael Mann (American Spectator)
- March 18, 2011: Michael Mann Goes to the Zoo (American Spectator)
- January 7, 2011: Mann: From Transparency Champion to ‘Bully’ Victim (American Spectator)