August 23, 2010

Ms. Jessica Sangsvang

Assistant City Attorney

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street, 3rd Floor

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

OR2010-12811

Dear Ms. Sangsvang:

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# 395771 (PIR No. W002564).

The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for call sheet number 100625029. You state that you have redacted certain Texas motor vehicle record information under section 552.130 of the Government Code pursuant to the previous determinations issued to the city. See Gov't Code § 552.301(a); Open Records Decision No. 673 at 7-8 (2001). You also state that you are withholding social security numbers under section 552.147 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ You claim that portions of the submitted information 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. This section encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy. Common-law privacy protects information that (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) 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 or 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.

Upon review, we agree that the information you have marked is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public concern. Therefore, the city must withhold the information you have marked pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

Section 552.101 also encompasses Chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code, which authorizes the development of local emergency communications districts. Sections 772.118, 772.218, and 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code are applicable to emergency 9-1-1 districts established in accordance with chapter 772. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). These sections make the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers that are furnished by a service supplier confidential. Id. at 2. Section 772.218 applies to an emergency communication district for a county with a population of more than 860,000. You inform us the city is part of an emergency communication district established under section 772.218 of the Health and Safety Code. You assert the telephone number you have marked in the submitted information was provided by a 9-1-1 service supplier. Based on your representations, we conclude the city must withhold the telephone number you have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.218 of the Health and Safety Code.

In summary, the city must withhold the information you have marked pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The city also must withhold the telephone number you have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.218 of the Health and Safety Code. 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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 395771

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.147(b) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act.

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