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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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August 10, 2001 Ms. Amanda Crawford
OR2001-3505 Dear Ms. Crawford: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 150561. The Office of the Attorney General (the "OAG") received a written request for all records pertaining to an individual's claim that she was injured in a state park. You state that the OAG has released some of the requested information. You contend that the remaining requested information, a representative sample of which you submitted to this office, is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.103, and 552.107(1) of the Government Code.(1) Section 552.103 is commonly referred to as the "litigation exception." Under section 552.103(a) and (c), the governmental body raising this exception must demonstrate that (1) litigation involving the governmental body was pending or reasonably anticipated at the time of the records request, and (2) the information at issue is related to that litigation. See also University of Tex. Law Sch. v. Texas Legal Found., 958 S.W.2d 479, 481 (Tex. App.--Austin 1997, no pet.); Heard v. Houston Post Co., 684 S.W.2d 210, 212 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1984, writ ref'd n.r.e.); Open Records Decision No. 551 at 4 (1990). A governmental body must meet both prongs of this test for information to be excepted under section 552.103. To establish that litigation is reasonably anticipated, a governmental body must provide this office "concrete evidence showing that the claim that litigation may ensue is more than mere conjecture." Open Records Decision No. 452 at 4 (1986). You have provided this office with a notice of claim that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (the "department") received from the attorney of the injured individual and explain that the OAG represents the department in connection with that claim. The attorney alleges that the department is liable for his client's injuries and seeks damages in excess of eight thousand dollars. Given these facts, we conclude that you have demonstrated that litigation involving the department was reasonably anticipated on the date the OAG received the records request. See id. Furthermore, after reviewing the records you seek to withhold, we conclude that these documents "relate" to the anticipated litigation for purposes of section 552.103. Because you state that the opposing parties in the anticipated litigation have not had prior access to the documents at issue, we conclude that the OAG may withhold the information in its entirety pursuant to section 552.103 of the Government Code.(2) This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a). If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e). If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408,411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ). Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the General Services Commission at 512/475-2497. If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling. Sincerely, J. Steven Bohl
c: Ms. Shannon Hoagland
Footnotes 1. In reaching our conclusion here, we assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision No. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office. 2. Because we resolve your request under section 552.103, we need not address the applicability of the other exceptions you raised. Please note that the applicability of section 552.103 ends once the litigation or likelihood thereof has concluded. Attorney General Opinion MW-575 (1982); Open Records Decision No. 350 (1982). POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |