Court arguments will be on April 9 in a lawsuit alleging Florida illegally withheld records on migrant flights

migrants at the U.S. border, American flag, barbed wire — By Stadratte via iStock for WMNF News.

An appeals court Friday scheduled arguments April 9 in a lawsuit alleging the Florida Department of Transportation and a contractor did not fully comply with public records requests about controversial state-funded flights of migrants to Massachusetts.

The Florida Center for Government Accountability last year went to the 1st District Court of Appeal after Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey dismissed the lawsuit.

The center contended in the lawsuit that the Department of Transportation and the contractor, Vertol Systems Company, Inc., violated the state’s public records law by not fully providing requested documents about the September 2022 flights of 49 migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard.

The flights, engineered by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, have drawn national scrutiny.

In two rulings, Dempsey concluded that the center did not prove the department and Vertol withheld documents.