The Node Ledger: one institution's decision points

UF/Brechner Freedom of Information Project

Public records requests to the University of Florida, home of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, and the mandamus case they produced in the Eighth Judicial Circuit.

How to read this page. Every entry is a decision point: a moment when this institution faced facts and made a choice. Each card states the norm first: what, if anything, those facts required under the constitution, the statutes, the rules, or the court's own orders. Call what the norm required the legally expected output. Then the card states what was decided. The class on each row measures the decision against the legally expected output: alignment when the output issued and held, a divergence when it did not. A pattern of divergences running one way is misalignment. Where a rule names the norm, the card cites it. The receipts carry the argument.

The frame is identical on every institution page. Only the institution changes. The ledger records what was required and what was done, and it asserts no one's motive. It is a record of the case's disputes, not a sample of everything these institutions did.

Why a university is on this map. The University of Florida is a state agency and the home of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project. Husband asked it for records referencing his case numbers, the two judges in those cases, and courthouse surveillance video. What follows is UF's handling of that request and the public-records case in the Eighth Judicial Circuit it produced. Every fact of it comes from UF's own documents. UF held the request twenty-eight days and gave no reason of any kind; it answered only after Husband followed up, and then in a single sentence saying the request was under legal review, never citing a statute for the hold, then or since (N-093). It then declared the request complete at 53 pages, on the same day its own IT office wrote that the search had stalled (N-096). On 7/30/26 UF placed 479 of the pages it had gathered on the public court docket, unsealed, including 426 pages it had withheld from the requester since May (N-144). It has still not accounted for two sets of records its own processing file names: a 621-page batch and an 88-page extraction built to pull the case numbers, both judges, and surveillance video, routed in writing for approval to be released and then never released, never logged, and named in no UF filing (N-099).

10decision points
6did not end in the expected output
3still pending, no output yet
0aligned and enforced
  • DENIED2the expected output was refused
  • IGNORED4no ruling ever came
  • PENDING3not yet decided; still live
  • PARTIAL1part of the expected output issued

1 of the 10 was partly aligned: part of the expected output issued. It is counted in neither the first cell nor the aligned cell.

Of the 7 no longer pending, none ended with the full legally expected output enforced. That is a count, not an estimate.

Each class is glossed above in terms of the legally expected output. The ledger's own definitions are on the full ledger page.

Take any card on this page: identify a false statement, or show that the decision matched what the facts required, and the card changes.

That request stands to anyone reading this. The allegations collected in this ledger have been put in writing, more than once, to the institutions with authority to examine them, and no false statement has been identified in response. Every card carries its receipt, so a wrong card can be shown wrong from the same records.

10 decision points, in order

Select any row to open its full card, with the receipt. The Spawned by line names the earlier decision point this one grew out of, and it is a link. Cards listed on more than one institution page say so on their face.

N-0932026-04-23UFthe University of Florida held a records request twenty-eight days and gave no reason of any kind; it answered only after Husband followed up, and then, the next day, in a single sentence saying the request was under legal review, a line its own lawyer wrote for the custodian that same dayIGNORED
Date
2026-04-23
Actor
John Hines, Director of Public Records; Amy B. Quillen, Associate Counsel, Office of the General Counsel
Institution
University of Florida
Mechanism
the University of Florida held a records request twenty-eight days and gave no reason of any kind; it answered only after Husband followed up, and then, the next day, in a single sentence saying the request was under legal review, a line its own lawyer wrote for the custodian that same day
What the law required
Section 119.07(1)(c) requires a custodian to acknowledge a request promptly and to respond in good faith. A delay is permitted only for the reasonable time it takes to retrieve and review the records. Section 119.07(1)(d) through (f) requires that any withholding be stated with the statutory basis. A request may be held for a reason. It may not be held for a label.
What happened
Husband's request went to UF on March 26, 2026. Twenty-eight days passed with no reason of any kind before he followed up. UF's entire reply was one sentence, written inside its Office of the General Counsel minutes earlier when Associate Counsel Amy Quillen instructed the records custodian: "You can let him know that his request is undergoing the legal review." Three weeks earlier the same lawyer had written internally, "I think very little of this may be responsive, so no invoice for now." Production followed thirty-nine days after the request: fifty-three pages, entirely correspondence between Husband and UF representatives (N-096). No reason has ever been given for the twenty-eight days. [IGNORED]
Baseline deviation
The Florida Constitution presumes every state record open and puts the burden of justifying any withholding on the agency. Article I, section 24(a). UF had two honest answers available in April: say it was still searching, or name the exemption. It gave neither for four weeks. In fairness, a records office may lawfully take time; that is not a basis a requester can test, and an untestable basis is what the statute was written to prevent.
Receipt
  • Request 3/26/26 (petition App. 8)
  • Husband's 4/22 9:52 AM follow-up
  • UF's 4/23 12:39:01 PM reply (petition App. 11, petition para. 16), whose page image has not been checked
  • Quillen to Hines, 4/23 12:25:18 PM, emails_1 p. 68, the top-level original
  • Quillen 4/3 9:15:05 AM, emails_1 p. 60
  • Day counts machine-computed at build: 3/26 to 4/23 is 28 days; 3/26 to 5/4 is 39
  • The 7/30/26 public filing of the withheld set is at N-144
  • The 5/4 production and its contents are at N-096

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-0942026-04-24 -> 2026-07-30UFUF's own file counted the pages it found, batch by batch, and in the same messages asked whether to prepare an invoice; the requester was told the request was complete at fifty-three pages and was given no count of what had been located until 103 days later, after he suedPARTIAL
Date
2026-04-24 -> 2026-07-30
Actor
University of Florida: the records custodian, the Office of the General Counsel, and UF Information Technology
Institution
University of Florida (W018463-032626; 8th Cir. 01-2026-CA-001794)
Mechanism
UF's own file counted the pages it found, batch by batch, and in the same messages asked whether to prepare an invoice; the requester was told the request was complete at fifty-three pages and was given no count of what had been located until 103 days later, after he sued
What the law required
Article I, section 24 of the Florida Constitution presumes openness. Section 119.07(1)(c) requires a good-faith response. UF's own processing file computed page counts of located batches from April 24 forward, some for invoicing. A good-faith response could state to the requester what a billing memo already stated internally.
What happened

UF's May 4 production was fifty-three pages, and UF told Husband: "This completes the public records request" (N-096). It gave no count of anything it had located, then or in the two months that followed.

Its own processing file had been counting all along: 621 pages logged on April 24, 109 rerun pages plus seventeen recovered messages on May 4 (N-097), and 88 extraction pages on May 7 (N-099).

A larger figure reached Husband only after he sued. On July 7, 2026, 103 days after the request, UF's court response put the number at over 470 pages gathered. On July 30 UF filed papers stating 479 gathered and 426 withheld, with the withheld set attached as a public exhibit (N-144). UF has identified no individual record as withheld and has produced no privilege log. The 621-page batch, the 109 rerun pages, and the 88-page extraction appear in no production, affidavit, or motion UF has filed in this case.

Baseline deviation
The Florida Constitution presumes the records open and puts the burden of justifying a withholding on the agency. A custodian whose file carries a page count can tell the requester what it counted. UF stated counts internally in the same weeks it stated none outward, and told the requester the request was complete. Every figure UF has since stated came after suit, and none has been reconciled to the batches its own file logged.
Receipt
  • emails_1.pdf p. 119 (Wood 5/4 11:11 AM, 109 rerun pages plus 17 messages) and pp. 267-268 (the 621-page 4/24 batch and the 88-page 5/7 extraction)
  • Production email 5/4 3:22 PM (petition App. 13-15)
  • UF Response, Filing 251907242, p. 3 and the custodian's affidavit para. 6 (over 470)
  • Doc 006 para. 24 and Exhibit D; Combined Response, Filing 253756192 (479/53/426, per the 8/8 correction recorded on N-144)
  • Day counts computed from UF's own dates: 3/26 to 7/7 is 103 days; 5/4 to 7/7 is 64 days

Spawned by: N-093, N-096

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-0962026-05-04UFUF's own IT office wrote at 10:40 that morning that the search had stalled and that seventeen messages should have been included; four and a half hours later the records office marked the request complete and wrote, "This completes the public records request"DENIED
Date
2026-05-04
Actor
UF's records custodian (UF Information Technology / Office of the General Counsel)
Institution
University of Florida (W018463-032626)
Mechanism
UF's own IT office wrote at 10:40 that morning that the search had stalled and that seventeen messages should have been included; four and a half hours later the records office marked the request complete and wrote, "This completes the public records request"
What the law required
Chapter 119 requires good-faith production. A custodian may not declare a request complete over same-day written notice that the search failed.
What happened

Husband asked UF for records referencing his case numbers, the judges in those cases, and surveillance video. On May 4, 2026, UF Information Technology wrote to the records custodian that the search "stalled before completing the search of Professor Bambauer's mailbox" and that seventeen messages should have been included previously.

Four and a half hours later the records custodian marked the request complete, and within minutes UF wrote to Husband: "This completes the public records request." What was produced was fifty-three pages, entirely correspondence between Husband and UF representatives, containing no UF-internal email and no record authored by Bambauer.

The custodian's July 7 affidavit presents May 4 as a clean completion. It says nothing about the stalled search, the seventeen missed messages, the 621-page April 24 batch (N-094), or the 88-page extraction built three days later (N-099). The whole sequence surfaced only because Husband filed a second records request. [DENIED]

Baseline deviation
The Florida Constitution presumes the records open and puts the burden on the agency to justify what it holds back. When a custodian is told its search failed, good faith leaves three doors open: finish the search, say it is incomplete, or produce what exists and identify the gap. The record shows a fourth door: the request was closed four and a half hours after the stall notice, at UF, home of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project.
Receipt
  • emails_1.pdf pp. 93, 119, 199 (the 10:40 AM UFIT stall notice at p. 119; a 7:40 AM rendering of the same message also exists, both reported)
  • W018964_Granicus.pdf pp. 6-7 (status Completed/Closed 5/4 3:11:24 PM)
  • Production email 5/4 3:22 PM (App. 13-15)
  • Custodian's affidavit para. 8, sworn to the best of his knowledge and unnotarized; both copies in this tree are the same two-page, eight-paragraph document (Response Ex. A, PDF pp. 16-17; Doc 006 Ex. C, PDF pp. 30-31)
  • Intervals machine-computed: 10:40 AM to 3:11:24 PM is 4h31m; 3:11:24 PM to 3:22 PM is 10 minutes 36 seconds, which is why the prose says "within minutes" and never "eleven minutes after"; 3/9/26 precedes the 3/26/26 request by 17 days
  • F246; RECORD_FIRST_UF B6

Spawned by: N-100

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-0972026-05-04UFthe rerun that finished after the stalled search returned 109 pages and 17 recovered messages that same morning; UF's lawyers put them in a folder for review and release approval and asked about an invoice, and that afternoon UF closed the request at 53 pagesIGNORED
Date
2026-05-04
Actor
UF Information Technology; Barbara L. Wood, Office of the General Counsel; the records custodian
Institution
University of Florida (W018463-032626)
Mechanism
the rerun that finished after the stalled search returned 109 pages and 17 recovered messages that same morning; UF's lawyers put them in a folder for review and release approval and asked about an invoice, and that afternoon UF closed the request at 53 pages
What the law required
Section 119.07(1)(a) requires a custodian to permit inspection of non-exempt public records located for a request, and section 119.07(1)(e) requires a stated statutory basis for anything withheld. Records located by the request's own search do not stop being responsive because the request is marked closed.
What happened

On May 4, 2026, UF's IT office reported that the first search had stalled and that a rerun had run to completion. Minutes later the General Counsel's office confirmed receipt of 109 rerun pages, plus seventeen messages that should have been included previously, copied them to a drive folder for review and release approval, and asked whether to prepare an invoice.

That afternoon the request was marked Completed/Closed, and UF produced fifty-three pages and called the request complete (N-096). The 109 pages and the seventeen messages appear in no production, no affidavit, and no motion UF has filed in this case. Three days later a second file was built and routed the same way, to a drive folder for release approval, and it too was never released (N-099). [IGNORED]

Baseline deviation
The Constitution presumes the records open and puts the burden of justifying a withholding on the agency. A custodian must let the requester inspect non-exempt records located, and state a basis for anything held back. A located record stays responsive after the request is closed. UF's office asked how many pages, for an invoice; the answer went to a review-and-release folder, and closure followed that afternoon at fifty-three pages. UF has never disclosed that the 109 pages exist.
Receipt
  • emails_1.pdf p. 119: Wood to Hines and Quillen, 5/4/26 11:11:08 AM, 109 rerun pages excluding attachments, copied to the PRR drive at W018463-032626\Fr UFIT 05-04-26, with the invoice question; the same page carries the UFIT 10:40 AM stall-and-rerun notice and the seventeen-messages line
  • W018964_Granicus.pdf p. 6: status Completed/Closed 5/4 3:11:24 PM
  • Production email 5/4 3:22 PM (petition App. 13-15)

Spawned by: N-096

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-0992026-05-07UFthree days after declaring the records request complete, UF's own lawyer asked for the disputed records "as a separate pdf"; UF's staff routed the 88-page file "for approval to be released"; it was never released, logged, or mentioned in any filingIGNORED
Date
2026-05-07
Actor
Amy B. Quillen, Associate Counsel (Office of the General Counsel), with UF Information Technology and Hines
Institution
University of Florida
Mechanism
three days after declaring the records request complete, UF's own lawyer asked for the disputed records "as a separate pdf"; UF's staff routed the 88-page file "for approval to be released"; it was never released, logged, or mentioned in any filing
What the law required
Chapter 119 requires a located responsive record to be produced, or withheld under a cited exemption with the statement required by sec.119.07(1)(e)-(f).
What happened

On May 7, 2026, three days after UF declared Husband's request complete, Associate Counsel Amy Quillen asked UF Information Technology to pull results for the case numbers, the judges' names, and surveillance video, and to "provide those results as a separate pdf." IT delivered the same morning: sixteen messages, eighty-eight pages. Within the hour, UF's legal assistant recorded in writing: "I have copied the records to Amy Q's PRR U: Drive to be reviewed by the General Counsel and for approval to be released." The release never happened.

The next day Husband demanded those records and a privilege log. UF produced neither, and no UF filing since mentions the file. UF produced the correspondence that created, named, transmitted, and filed the extraction, but not the extraction. [IGNORED]

Baseline deviation
The records law gives a custodian two lawful moves with a located record: produce it, or withhold it under a stated exemption with the required written statement. UF's counsel created a file of exactly the disputed material and made neither move. The next day UF told Husband that what it had not produced was records of other people named Hanson (N-100). One sentence saying where the 88 pages went would settle it. It has never been written.
Receipt
  • UF email production emails_1.pdf pp. 267-268: the Quillen 9:16 AM request (p.268), the Quiros 10:11 AM delivery, and the Wood 10:28 AM routing email (p.267), naming the file ISS-444193-W018463-032626-16-88-opt-SpecificKeywords.pdf and flagging a possible invoice "based on the number of pages"
  • Full Quillen request: "can you pull out the results with the search terms 13th Circuit, 2025-CA-002469, 25-CA-10255, Judge Kelly Ayers, Judge Matthew Felix, and surveillance video? If yes, please provide those results as a separate pdf."
  • keyword chart same page (Hanson 113 messages, 98.26%)
  • p. 190; Exhibit D to Doc 006 searched in full (479 pages, text layer plus eye for the 27 pages without one)
  • the never-released scope statement checked against UF's four filings, each read in full: not the protective-order motion, not its exhibits, not the response to the order to show cause, not the case management statement

Spawned by: N-096

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-1002026-05-08UFUF said it had found records and was keeping them because they concerned other people named Hanson, a ground that exists nowhere in the records law; its file shows hits on both case numbers, judges' names, and surveillance video, none of which is a surnameDENIED
Date
2026-05-08
Actor
UF records office
Institution
University of Florida (W018463-032626)
Mechanism
UF said it had found records and was keeping them because they concerned other people named Hanson, a ground that exists nowhere in the records law; its file shows hits on both case numbers, judges' names, and surveillance video, none of which is a surname
What the law required
Chapter 119 requires an agency to produce the record or cite a statutory exemption. No exemption exists for a shared surname.
What happened

On May 4, 2026 UF declared the request complete after producing fifty-three pages, entirely correspondence between Husband and UF representatives (N-096). On May 8, UF said it had located records responsive to the Hanson search and was withholding them as records of other Hansons.

UF's processing file, produced July 17, 2026, shows a three-category parse, a 177-page bucket never mentioned, and keyword hits on 13th Circuit, both judges' names, both case numbers, and surveillance video, none of which is a surname.

UF has since made the position explicit: no exemption was needed because "Petitioner did not ask for them and said he did not want them." That has to meet UF's own keyword chart, which records hits on terms Husband did ask for. A second set of 426 pages drew the position that "No exemptions apply to such materials, because public records exemptions only apply to public records." [DENIED]

Baseline deviation
Exemptions in Florida are created by law, not by a case team. The Constitution presumes the record open and puts the burden of proving an exemption on the agency. Article I, section 24(a) and (c). An agency has two lawful moves with a located record: produce it, or name the statute that lets it keep it, in writing. A shared surname is not a statute. UF's contemporaneous file, produced later, shows the ground was false when UF made it.
Receipt
  • Petition Exs. D-G (the petition text layer is ciphered; visual reads required)
  • W018964 production, emails_1 pp. 190, 268 (keyword chart and the Cuillier 5/6 email placing "a few dozen" non-Hanson surveillance-video emails in his own mailbox); both pages held from the production text layer, page images not separately checked
  • Doc 006 paras. 12-15, fn. 5 (p. 7), Ex. B App. 74-76
  • Response from UF (Filing 251907242, 7/7/26, Kirkconnell), p. 6 and p. 7: "The University did not cite an exemption for these records, because no exemption is necessary for records that are not responsive to a request."; the "Petitioner did not ask for them" sentence sits on the same p. 6; the italic emphasis inside UF's statutory quotation on p. 7 is UF's own
  • A footnote to UF's July 30, 2026 motion dates the first request for those two categories to July 13, 2026; UF's own Exhibit B to that motion contains the May 8, 2026 demand
  • The 479 / 53 / 426 figures are N-144's
  • F253
  • Related decision points: N-120.

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-1202026-06-128th Cir (Keim)a judge outside the case read the petition and ordered UF to show cause; UF answered by denying that either duty exists, under a heading of its own writing: "Florida Law Does Not Require Certification of Diligent Search or a Privilege Log"PENDING
Date
2026-06-12
Actor
Judge Donna M. Keim
Institution
8th Cir. Alachua Co. (01-2026-CA-001794)
Mechanism
a judge outside the case read the petition and ordered UF to show cause; UF answered by denying that either duty exists, under a heading of its own writing: "Florida Law Does Not Require Certification of Diligent Search or a Privilege Log"
What the law required
A Ch. 119 mandamus petition is measured against a facial-sufficiency threshold.
What happened

On June 12, 2026, Judge Donna M. Keim, a third judge outside the family case, found Husband's petition facially sufficient and ordered UF to show cause within twenty days. UF answered on time, standing on having already produced everything, under a heading declaring neither is required: "Nowhere does Chapter 119 require that a state agency certify to a requestor that it has made a diligent search for records, nor is there any requirement that a state agency produce a privilege log."

UF carried the position into its later protective-order motion, describing a privilege log and sworn certifications as things Husband has no right to. It claimed no exemption for anything it declined to produce, while asserting FERPA and section 119.071(5)(b) redactions, and asked for denial without a hearing. This is the third outside-judge facial-sufficiency finding; the first two produced writs never enforced (N-070, N-080). [PENDING]

Baseline deviation
Article I, section 24(a) presumes the record open and puts the burden of justifying withholding on the agency. Two ordinary instruments let a requester test that: a certification of the search, and a log of what is withheld and why. UF says Florida law owes him neither, closing the loop, and puts the burden on him to prove what those withheld instruments would show. In fairness, no court has rejected this argument; the finding here is threshold only.
Receipt
  • Order to show cause, Filing #250268011, plus the 6/17 verified return; the case number and OSC stamp are on the face of the filing.
  • UF Response, Filing #251907242, e-filed 7/7/26 12:32:51 PM, signed /s/ James W. Kirkconnell: p. 8, Section IV heading and second paragraph; the same position restated at pp. 2, 9, 10, and 14.
  • Attribution pin: the paragraph-21 sentence is from the protective-order motion, Doc 006 (Filing 253616687) p. 6, attorney argument, not from the custodian's affidavit, which is two pages, eight numbered paragraphs, and has no paragraph 21.
  • Doc 006 paras. 17 and 19 at pp. 5-6, stating "the burden shifts back to the Petitioner" and "Petitioner's inference is not enough." The motion asks for denial without a hearing.
  • FERPA and section 119.071(5)(b) redaction assertions are Doc 006 fn. 4, p. 7; that footnote also cites section 1006.52.
  • UF's Response was read in full.
  • First two facial-sufficiency findings and their unenforced writs: N-070 (Doc 047, alternative writ, 1/13/26, Judge Frayman found "an, albeit inartful, prima facie case") and N-080 (Doc 062, alternative writ signed 2/10/26 by Judge Coleman, return date 3/4/26). Unruled motion to enforce both is N-089.
  • The 7/30 motions are N-144; the 8/3 non-appearance is N-145.

Spawned by: N-100

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-1442026-07-30UFUF put all 479 gathered pages onto the public docket unsealed, including pages it had refused the requester since May; for 98 pages the same filing takes both positions at once, records it need not produce and records it need not logPENDING
Date
2026-07-30
Actor
UF Board of Trustees, by counsel Kirkconnell
Institution
8th Cir. 01-2026-CA-001794 (Judge Keim)
Mechanism
UF put all 479 gathered pages onto the public docket unsealed, including pages it had refused the requester since May; for 98 pages the same filing takes both positions at once, records it need not produce and records it need not log
What the law required
Section 119.11(1) gives public-records cases priority. A mandamus petitioner has discovery rights. A protective order requires good cause. Exemptions require per-record statements.
What happened

On July 30, 2026, four days before the noticed depositions, UF filed two motions. Doc 006 sought a protective order over all discovery pending a threshold compliance ruling, stating Husband "has not, and cannot, offer any evidence," without mentioning the processing file UF had produced thirteen days earlier. Doc 005 demanded an immediate evidentiary hearing while asking that both motions be heard at the August 24 conference.

The same filing placed all 479 gathered pages on the public docket, unsealed, including 177 pages UF maintains are not public records. For 98 pages UF holds both positions in the same filing on the same day. Exhibit D is not the whole of what UF located: an internal 621-page batch and an 88-page extraction targeting "surveillance video" appear in neither the exhibit nor either motion (N-099). UF has identified no individual record as withheld and has produced no privilege log. [PENDING]

Baseline deviation
A document a university can file on a public docket is one it could always have handed the requester. Article I, section 24(a) presumes records open and puts the burden of justifying withholding on the agency; UF's stated ground for four months was that the pages were not public records at all. Then UF published them. Separately, UF demanded an immediate hearing under the records-priority statute while asking, the same day, that both motions be heard three weeks later.
Receipt
  • UF Motion for Protective Order, Doc 006 (Filing 253616687), paras. 5, 9, 11, 18, 21, 24, fn. 4, fn. 5, and Exhibit D; Motion to Dispense, Doc 005 (same filing envelope), paras. 3 and 9.
  • Petitioners' Combined Response, Filing 253756192, paras. 28, 30-32, and 38-39.
  • Deposition notices at Doc 006 Ex. A.
  • Doc 005 para. 9 demands an "immediate evidentiary hearing"; para. 3 asks that both motions be heard at the August 24 conference.
  • The 621-page batch and 88-page extraction targeted the case numbers, both judges, and "surveillance video". Husband's Combined Response states in terms that UF took both positions on the same 98 pages.
  • Exhibit D category stamps counted across all 479 pages, boundary pages re-checked: Category 1 = 53, Category 2 = 346 stamped plus 1 unstamped, Category 3 = 79, total 479, confirming the 98-page double label.
  • The 621-page and 88-page batches at emails_1 pp. 267-268; the 621-page reference is not pinned to a page. The 88-page extraction was built May 7, three days after UF declared the request complete.
  • A footnote to Doc 006 dates the first request for those categories to July 13, 2026, which its own Exhibit B contradicts.
  • Docketing-lag advisory, from the 8/11/26 message.
  • UF's counsel made scheduling commitments on July 14 and 15 and did not perform them; UF's filed position is that no exemption log is owed at all (N-120).
  • F243, F244, F245, F250, F252, F256; RECORD_FIRST_UF B3 through B7.
  • Related decision points: N-094.

Spawned by: N-096, N-099, N-100, N-120

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-1452026-08-03UFthe only person who swore to UF's account, its own records custodian, was noticed for deposition with ten days' notice; on the day, no witness and no lawyer for UF appeared at either setting, and no order had ever excused attendanceIGNORED
Date
2026-08-03
Actor
UF Board of Trustees, by counsel Kirkconnell. Witnesses John Hines (Director of Public Records, records custodian, sole affiant to UF's response to the order to show cause) and Prof. Jane Bambauer
Institution
8th Cir. 01-2026-CA-001794 (Judge Keim)
Mechanism
the only person who swore to UF's account, its own records custodian, was noticed for deposition with ten days' notice; on the day, no witness and no lawyer for UF appeared at either setting, and no order had ever excused attendance
What the law required
A pending motion is not an order. A party noticed under Rule 1.310 must appear unless a protective order is entered (Rule 1.280(c)). Relief must be obtained, not assumed. Rules 1.380(d) and 1.380(e)(1)(A) govern failure to appear.
What happened
Both settings convened on August 3, 2026 with stenographic and audiovisual coverage arranged: Bambauer at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Hines at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, by Zoom. No witness appeared at either setting. No counsel for UF appeared at either setting. No order excused attendance, and none has been entered since. UF had conferred by telephone on July 24 on precisely this relief, and its July 30 motion names both depositions expressly, so this is not a case of silence: UF said it wanted the depositions stopped, but never said it would simply not appear if no ruling came. On August 21, 2026 the court reporter confirmed in writing: "I was the court reporter on August 3, 2026 for the depositions that were to be held. The CNAs have been completed." No testimony was taken at either setting, and the non-appearance has drawn no consequence. [IGNORED]
Baseline deviation
A pending motion is not an order. A witness noticed for deposition must appear unless a court enters a protective order. UF conferred by telephone on July 24 and moved on July 30, but never got the order and sought no interim relief, against a written invitation to bring any such motion promptly. UF's own motion puts the burden on Husband to prove noncompliance, while UF's own filed position is that no certification or log is owed (N-120).
Receipt
  • 7/24/26 deposition notices, served on counsel (Doc 006 Ex. A; service email plus the 7/27 chambers reply, OFF_DOCKET, archived).
  • Doc 006 para. 4 (the burden sentence) and the Chandler line in UF's Response, both born-digital text layer.
  • Court reporter Valerie Gunning, Vincent M. Lucente & Associates, email of 8/7/26 1:01 PM EDT, captured to the Brechner correspondence folder.
  • Ten days' notice recomputed 7/24 to 8/3.
  • The 8/3 demand letter is N-146.
  • In fairness: Bambauer's service was never confirmed (the July 24 question about accepting service for her went unanswered), so her absence has an innocent explanation Hines does not share; only Hines, UF's sole affiant and records custodian, carries the compulsion argument (N-096, N-099).

Spawned by: N-144, N-096, N-099, N-100

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.

N-1462026-08-03UFthe one demand that costs UF nothing to answer, written confirmation it is preserving the search outputs and logs, was put to UF on July 13, 15, 16, and 18, and again August 3; no answer has been found in any channel searchedPENDING
Date
2026-08-03
Actor
Kirkconnell and UF OGC on the demand fork. UF Board of Trustees on the sec.57.105 fork
Institution
8th Cir. 01-2026-CA-001794 (Judge Keim)
Mechanism
the one demand that costs UF nothing to answer, written confirmation it is preserving the search outputs and logs, was put to UF on July 13, 15, 16, and 18, and again August 3; no answer has been found in any channel searched
What the law required
Section 57.105(4) gives a 21-day safe harbor in which the challenged position may be withdrawn or corrected.
What happened
A letter dated August 3, 2026 puts five demands to UF's counsel in writing, due 5:00 p.m. Friday, August 7. No as-sent copy has been located, so transmission is unconfirmed. The demands: three deposition dates for Hines by Friday, August 14; an answer whether counsel accepts service for Bambauer, first asked July 24; written confirmation UF will not oppose the out-of-pocket expenses of the unattended August 3 settings (N-145); and the preservation confirmation already demanded July 13, 15, 16, and 18, covering the search outputs, hit lists and logs, and specific batches (N-094, N-097, N-099), or in the alternative an expedited hearing on UF's own protective-order motion. Enclosed, drafted under section 57.105(4) and withheld from filing by design, is a motion for sanctions on two of UF's positions (N-144). Through the period swept, ending August 20, 2026, no answer to the preservation demand has been found. [PENDING]
Baseline deviation
Every branch of this letter costs UF something only if its position cannot be supported: producing dates loosens the withholding, a refusal puts a testable position on the record, and silence leaves the assertion standing on nothing. The preservation demand is the backstop, because confirming records still exist costs an agency nothing, so a refusal to confirm cannot be explained by burden. The Constitution puts that burden on UF, so a free question is one its position must survive.
Receipt
  • SEND_COPY_letter_2026-08-03.md and.docx; ENCLOSURE_57105_Motion_v2_2026-08-03.docx; the F10 and F3 passes on both.
  • Doc 006 para. 5 (the accelerated-adjudication assertion) and para. 24 (the Exhibit D categories).
  • The Dropbox folder that transmitted the seventeen recovered messages (N-097); the U: Drive path where the extraction was placed for approval to be released (N-099); the April 24 batch (N-094); the mailboxes and devices searched.
  • Scope of the search: the Brechner matter's correspondence folder; Husband's Yahoo mailbox has not been swept for this card. Nothing here claims that nothing was sent, only that nothing was found where the search ran.
  • Arithmetic as recorded on the card, and conditional on a service date the file does not yet confirm: 8/3 plus 21 days is Monday, August 24, 2026, the same day as the case management conference.

Spawned by: N-145

This decision point also appears on: the full ledger.