Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Florida

Re: FLORIDA LAW ONLY:

Is there any legal reason to prevent a citizen from starting an informal Neighborhood blog for the specific purpose of consolidating specific public records re a specific corporation/developer who wants to build (such & such development) in a local neighborhood?

From researching these public records, it is apparent the Corp is quite in debt to the County (tax debt) and is therefore basically leeching off of the local citizens. This is "human interest" aka "public interest" info, imho, so I think the entire affected neighborhood should be aware of this.

So, the purpose of the blog, as stated, would be to put all the public records re this one specific corporation, all docs in one place, for the benefit of locals who are less saavy re searching public records. Also the blog would allow comments by readers (or not?)

The specific public records --already available online -- would be as follows:

1. City or County public meeting notes where there is discussion re the developer & development;

2. Secretary of State/Fla Dept of Corps record re this corporation;

3. County Property Appraiser records for the properties bought up by this Corp;

4. County Tax Records (& Tax Liens) for this specific Corp;

5. State government river management agency public records re this Corp;

6. Mortgages, Mortgage Modifications, & related docs re the properties bought up by this Corp for their development (these public records have to be ordered for a

fee through the My Florida County dot com website).

The purpose of the blog would be like a "Neighborhood Watch" of this specific corporation & their proposed development's progress (for good or bad), and to consolidate all public records (described above) into one place for easy reference.

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If there is some reason it is illegal to re-post public records on a blog:

1. Then could I quote chunks from the public records, including the mortgages/modifications? (it would be much easier & more credible, though, to post the docs themselves, with source links of course).

2. If absolutely necessary, I could make the blog "private/members only" (which defeats the purpose).

Thank you for your assistance!

PS: I wasn't sure which area of law to choose for public records, so I chose the Big Banana, Constitutional Law. :)

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Asked on 11/14/09, 3:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Brent Rose The Orsini & Rose Law Firm

No law prevents posting a consolidation of public information on a blog.

Read more
Answered on 11/19/09, 11:23 am


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