1. As noted above, you can seek a court injunction to stop a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act or prevent a threatened violation. Unfortunately, this ability is of little use if you have no advance notice of closure or if you cannot persuade the agency to postpone the closed meeting. You may also bring a civil action for a $100 penalty against each member of the governing body of the agency who attends the meeting knowing it to be in violation of OPMA.

2. Any formal action taken at a meeting which fails to comply with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act is null and void. You should make the governing body aware of the risk that action taken in the session may be void.

3. A 1985 amendment provides for mandatory assessment of the prevailing party's costs and reasonable attorneys' fees against an agency that loses a lawsuit for meeting closure violation. The same amendment permits a court to assess the agency's costs and attorney's fees against you if the action is "frivolous and advanced without reasonable cause."