An attorney in a legal battle with Harrisburg over its gun laws plans to appeal a ruling in the city’s favor over the privacy of donors to a legal defense fund, according to court filings.
Joshua Prince, of the Berks County-based Prince Law Offices, requested court transcripts for an appeal Wednesday, two weeks after Dauphin County Judge Andrew Dowling ruled the donors’ names could be kept private.
Prince is representing a gun-rights membership organization in a separate lawsuit against Harrisburg over its firearms ordinances. He sought documents including donors’ names and addresses in an open records request last February.
The city provided a list with the names and addresses redacted. Prince appealed to the state open records office, which ordered the city to release the full record.
Dowling, however, agreed with the city on appeal that the identity of donors is exempt under state open records law. He also sided with the city in finding it had provided records sufficient to meet other parts of Prince’s request, which Prince had disputed.
Harrisburg set up its legal defense fund earlier this year, after two groups sued the city over its ordinances regulating the use and ownership of firearms. The groups were emboldened by a new state law giving groups not immediately harmed by local regulations the ability to bring legal actions and recover costs from municipalities.
The city’s records showed it had received three donations totaling $400. The state law has since been ruled unconstitutional, though the lawsuits against Harrisburg are still pending. Prince’s case challenging the city ordinances was removed to federal court in February.
