ESPN sues Notre Dame over refusal to comply with public records requests

ESPN has filed a lawsuit against the University of Notre Dame alleging the school has failed to comply with the network's open records requests, according to the Associated Press.

ESPN requested reports from Notre Dame's campus police on crimes that involved student-athletes.

Though Notre Dame is a private university, ESPN argues that the school's police department should be subject to open record requests because it is a public law enforcement agency. Indiana's public access counselor, Luke Britt, agreed with that argument in an advisory opinion filed on Oct. 31, according to the AP.

From the AP:

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[Britt] acknowledged that his view may be inconsistent with past opinions from other public access counselors, but that it wasn't inconsistent with Indiana's public records law.

ESPN also made a similar records request with the Tallahassee Police Department for information on Florida State athletes. Rather than send the reports to ESPN, TPD released them all publicly.

- Dan Gartland