TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ An appellate court says a grass company cannot obtain records of a University of Florida direct-support organization.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal, though, sent Environmental Turf Inc.'s request for other university records back to a trial judge.
The Tallahassee-based court ruled on Monday that records sought by the Avon Park firm from nonprofit Florida Foundation Seed Producers Inc. are exempt from the state's open records law because it is a direct-support organization.
Circuit Judge Robert Roundtree Jr. also had ruled in Gainesville that the other records were covered by exemptions for research and litigation.
The appeal court, though, noted Roundtree never looked at them. It returned that part of the case with instructions to review the records in private before ruling again.
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