A previously sealed court filing in a lawsuit over the city’s handling of public records was made public on Nov. 13 after tense exchanges between the judge and the city’s attorney.

The latest hearing in the lawsuit between the City of Richmond and former Freedom of Information Act officer Connie Clay ended with a filing on unpreserved evidence unsealed amid those exchanges.

Circuit Court Judge Claire Cardwell unsealed the filing, a report from Clay’s attorneys on their efforts to search for evidence relating to Clay’s firing. Cardwell initially sealed the document after emails from Jimmy Robinson Jr. of Ogletree Deakins, part of the team representing the city, requested it.

Clay is suing the city and former city spokesperson Petula Burks over what she calls a “chaotic and mismanaged” FOIA request process that violated state law. She also alleges she was fired last year in “retaliation for reporting and refusing to engage in illegal and unethical activities in violation of FOIA.”

Robinson’s sealing requests, read aloud in court by Cardwell, included asking her law clerk on Nov. 6 to have the Clerk’s Office seal the filing immediately “to prevent further dissemination.”

Clay’s attorneys filed the document amid broader struggles to address missing or unpreserved evidence, including cellphone records between Clay and Burks, her former boss who lost her city-issued phone during the summer last year.

Robinson said in his email — and again in court — that he made the sealing request assuming the documents were for in camera review, not for the public record.

“Whether that was wrong or not, Your Honor, that was our understanding,” Robinson said.

Cardwell rejected that reasoning, saying the assumption was “based on nothing.” She said Robinson’s request was also “directly contradictory” to his response days later to an email from The Richmonder reporter Graham Moomaw about whether the city’s defense had sought the document’s sealing.

Robinson emphasized during the hearing and afterward to Moomaw that he asked the Clerk’s Office to seal the filing, not the judge — a distinction Cardwell also challenged.

“The clerk has no authority to seal records,” she said.

Exchanges between Robinson and Cardwell grew increasingly heated as he also pushed back on her criticism that the city’s legal team was not available as needed. Robinson countered by questioning the availability of Clay’s attorneys, including their cancellation of a planned deposition Monday. He also noted he had placed work above his personal matters, including a recent family death.

Cardwell did not issue rulings on multiple pending motions, including one seeking sanctions related to the lost phone and the city’s failure to preserve evidence. She said she was concerned that information about the phone surfaced only after a review of Burks’ replacement device.

The next hearing is set for Feb. 18, with more meetings and a deposition expected before then.