Topeka ? A publisher and an attorney worried Friday that Kansans would find getting access to public records tougher because of a ruling from the Kansas Supreme Court.

The court ruled that the Kansas Department of Transportation acted in bad faith in 1998 in withholding railroad crossing safety records from The Garden City Telegram. The justices strongly criticized KDOT’s conduct.

But the court severely limited what KDOT must pay The Telegram to reimburse the newspaper for costs from pursuing an open records lawsuit.

KDOT could pay only a few hundred dollars, when The Telegram spent $13,000. The Supreme Court returned the case to Shawnee County District Court to determine the exact amount.

Steve Delaney, the paper’s publisher and editor, and Mike Merriam, its attorney, said the ruling would keep other agencies from being punished financially for violating the Kansas Open Records Act — giving them no incentive to follow it.

“At first blush, it looked pretty good,” Delaney said of the ruling. “Upon further review, they seemed to be telling public agencies that if they violate the spirit and letter of the act, they won’t have to pay a penalty.”

Merriam called the ruling “a disgrace,” adding, “It’s hard for me to accept that they realized what a dramatic shift in public policy this is.”

The newspaper sought safety ratings for Finney County railroad crossings after the June 1998 death of Heather Becker, a 20-year-old Holcomb resident. She was driving on a dirt road west of Garden City and was hit by a train.

KDOT maintained it couldn’t release the records under a federal law that says such ratings are not admissible as evidence in lawsuits. The Telegram sued.

Three years ago, a Shawnee County District judge ruled KDOT had to release the records, and the agency did not appeal. However, the department did appeal when the judge ordered it to pay the newspaper’s legal expenses.

The Supreme Court said KDOT could be required to pay only The Telegram’s attorneys’ fees, not other costs. Then, the court suggested KDOT would be liable for fees incurred only before the newspaper filed its open records lawsuit.

In one place, the court said KDOT was responsible for the newspaper’s attorney fees “until the time litigation commenced.” Another line said The Telegram was entitled to have attorneys fees covered “before suit was filed.”

Another part said KDOT’s actions only “when it denied Telegram access” should be considered. Yet another mentioned “prelitigation conduct.”

Merriam said having to pay legal costs was a significant penalty for agencies that act in bad faith, as KDOT did.

“The district court is going to award us a pittance,” he said.

Yet in its ruling, the Supreme Court said the federal law cited by KDOT was “remarkably clear” in not blocking disclosure of the records sought. The court also pointed out that the purpose of the records act was to promote open government.

“As a government agency, KDOT is well-aware of this strong public policy,” Justice Lawton Nuss wrote for the court. “KDOT’s denial of access was not only without a reasonable basis in fact, but it was also in bad faith.”