March 24, 2010

Ms. Luz E. Sandoval-Walker

Assistant City Attorney

City of El Paso

2 Civic Center Plaza, 9th Floor

El Paso, Texas 79901

OR2010-04132

Dear Ms. Sandoval-Walker:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 373514.

The El Paso Police Department (the "department") received a request for a report involving a named individual at a specified address on December 26, 2009. You claim incident report number 09-360231 and the related computer-aided dispatch ("CAD") report are excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy. Common-law privacy protects information if (1) the information contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) the information is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). The type of information considered intimate and embarrassing by the Texas Supreme Court in Industrial Foundation included information relating to sexual assault, pregnancy, mental or physical abuse in the workplace, illegitimate children, psychiatric treatment of mental disorders, attempted suicide, and injuries to sexual organs. Id. at 683. You assert, and we agree, certain health-related information in incident report number 09-360231 and the CAD report is highly intimate and embarrassing and not of legitimate public concern. Additionally, this office has found personal financial information not relating to a financial transaction between an individual and a governmental body is generally intimate or embarrassing. See Open Records Decision No. 545 (1990). The CAD report contains lien information that constitutes personal financial information. We find there to be no legitimate public interest in this information. Accordingly, the department must withhold the marked information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code also encompasses section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency communication district for a county with a population of more than 20,000 and makes confidential the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers that are furnished by a service supplier. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). You represent the City of El Paso is within an emergency communication district that is subject to section 772.318. Therefore, the department must withhold the telephone number and address we marked in the CAD report under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information that relates to a motor vehicle operator's license, driver's license, motor vehicle title, or registration issued by a Texas agency. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1), (2). Therefore, the department must withhold the Texas license plate numbers, license plate expiration dates, license plate ages, license plate class numbers, title numbers, title issued dates, and vehicle identification numbers we marked under section 552.130. ⁽¹⁾

In summary, the department must withhold the information we marked in incident report number 09-360231 and the related CAD report under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The department must withhold the telephone number and address we marked in the submitted CAD report under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. The department must withhold the Texas license plate numbers, license plate expiration dates, license plate ages, license plate class numbers, title numbers, title issued dates, and vehicle identification numbers we marked under section 552.130. The remaining information must be released.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Jessica Eales

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JCE/eeg

Ref: ID# 373514

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note this office recently issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including a Texas license plate number under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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