NEVADA — The legal battle between open-records advocates and the ISU Foundation is finally over.

On Tuesday, District Judge Timothy Finn upheld a Feb. 4 Iowa Supreme Court ruling stating the Foundation must follow open records laws and disclose information because it is performing a government function.

“The ruling is pretty much what we expected,” said Jason Menke, associate director of communications for the ISU Foundation.

The ruling clarified open-records requests can be taken to individuals affiliated with Iowa State, said Mark McCormick, an attorney for the ISU Foundation. Previously, uncertainty existed over whether custodial duties of the records were to be performed by the Foundation, Iowa State or the Iowa Board of Regents.

Menke said the ruling also allows the ISU Foundation or the plaintiffs, Des Moines businessman Arlen Nichols and former ISU employee Mark Gannon, to return to court if any further dispute over a specific records-request occurs.

McCormick said allowing similar, specific disputes to return to court is normal for rulings of this type. Certain exemptions and restrictions on records requests still apply, he said.

Menke said the ISU Foundation now has no plans to further pursue the open records dispute.

“The opinion, to my understanding, is the end of the road to this particular legal issue,” he said.

Nichols said he was not surprised by the ruling.

“He’s not going to go against nine Supreme Court justices,” he said, referring to Finn’s ruling.

Nichols said the ruling did not represent a victory because it is simply re-affirming the February Supreme Court ruling.

“We will do everything we can to balance the public’s right to information with donors’ right to privacy,” Menke said.