A Lee County judge ruled Tuesday, Jan. 6, in favor of Dixon’s defense attorney’s motion to pause the information-gathering pretrial process in a lawsuit that alleges the city did not comply with state law for public records requests.

The suit – filed Oct. 29, 2025, by Missouri nonprofit organization the Coalition Opposing Governmental Secrecy and Metric Media LLC, doing business as NW Illinois News - alleges the city willfully and intentionally violated the Illinois Freedom of Information Act by failing to produce records requested by its reporter, court records show.

It asks the court to order the city to pay a fine between $2,500 and $5,000 for each alleged violation and order the city to award the plaintiffs reasonable attorney fees and costs, court records show.

An FOIA request is a formal, written demand for specific public records from a government agency. Laws surrounding these requests vary by state.

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, Sterling-based attorney Tim Zollinger, representing Dixon, told Lee County Circuit Judge Douglas E. Lee that although the city didn’t respond in the required time, it was unintentional.

After the lawsuit was filed, city officials corrected the mistake by providing a written response stating that it does not have the records requested, court records show.

Shortly after that response was sent, the media companies’ attorneys - Edward Weinhaus of Cook County and Adam Florek of LegalSolved in Missouri - filed a motion for an extensive list of records and questions requiring written responses from Dixon related to its handling of FOIA requests. Zollinger provided some written responses, but filed a motion against the rest of it on Jan. 2.

In court Tuesday, Zollinger argued that the city resolved the issue by providing a response to the FOIA request. It should not be ordered to supply the extensive information requested because it’s no longer relevant, Zollinger said.

“We do oppose the motion,” Weinhaus said, referring to the one filed by Zollinger. He added that he “would advise the city spend some time discussing a settlement.”

Weinhaus appeared in court via Zoom.

Zollinger said a conversation would be helpful, but that he intended to make arguments against the request that the city pay the plaintiffs for their attorney fees.

Lee granted Zollinger’s motion to temporarily pause the formal information-gathering process. He scheduled the next court date for 11:30 a.m. Feb. 20 for arguments to be made on the issue of attorney fees and fines.

The lawsuit: what we know

On May 12, 2025, Owen Wang, who identified himself as a NW Illinois News reporter, submitted a FOIA request via email to the city.

It requests “a list of businesses was registered with the city from last week with the following fields: business name, business number, business type, business address, issued date, status and registered agent name,” according to court records.

In an interview, Zollinger told Shaw Local that Dixon doesn’t require businesses to register with the city, so it doesn’t have any type of list. This is not a case where records existed and were wrongfully withheld, he said.

The city failed to respond to Wang’s request within five business days as required by state law, and the companies filed the lawsuit. After that, the city responded to the FOIA request.

The city’s response sent via email Nov. 19, 2025, said, “There are no such records responsive to this request. The city of Dixon does not have a business registry,” court records show.

After that, the media companies’ attorneys filed a lengthy motion asking Dixon to provide an extensive list of records and provide a written response to 13 questions and 20 statements, either admitting or denying them, court records show.

All the requested information is relevant to the FOIA filed by Wang, but also includes the city’s broader handling of all FOIA requests.

For example, one request for records asks for “all correspondence, communications, and/or documents sent to or from the responsible defendant’s [Dixon] FOIA officer from May 12, 2025, until Dec. 28, 2025,″ according to the motion.

Zollinger filed a motion objecting to the plaintiffs’ motion Jan. 2.

Arguing against providing the list of records, the motion says, “The city of Dixon has cured the oversight of not responding to the original FOIA request by providing a formal written response. Tendering discovery on a wide range of topics not at issue or no longer relevant is oppressive, constitutes an unreasonable annoyance, unreasonable expense, and is clearly intended simply to cause the city to incur attorney fees and expend public funds.”

That motion also argues against awarding attorney fees to the plaintiffs. It references Illinois FOIA law that says the court can award a person seeking public records, but should consider “the degree to which the relief obtained relates to the relief sought.”

“In this instance while the attorneys for plaintiff could have simply written a letter to the city asking if it would voluntarily comply ... the plaintiff nonetheless chose to file suit,” according to Zollinger’s motion.

“Illinois law is clear that the purpose of considering an award of reasonable attorney fees under FOIA is not to reward successful plaintiffs or punish the government,” Zollinger further states, referencing a similar 2023 FOIA case against Joliet Township.

Zollinger’s motion also argues against the plaintiffs’ request that the city be ordered to pay a fine for each alleged violation because the city has responded to the initial FOIA request.