January 18, 2011

Ms. J. Middlebrooks

Assistant City Attorney

Criminal Law and Police Section

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2011-00774

Dear Ms. Middlebrooks:

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# 406105 (PIR 10-9992).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for information related to a named individual. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

You seek to withhold the submitted information in its entirety under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section incorporates the doctrine of common-law privacy, which 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). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be satisfied. Id. at 681-82.

The types 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. This office has found that some kinds of medical information or information indicating disabilities or specific illnesses are excepted from required public disclosure. See Open Records Decision Nos. 470 (1987) (illness from severe emotional and job-related stress), 455 (1987) (prescription drugs, illnesses, operations, and physical handicaps).

Generally, only highly intimate or embarrassing information that implicates the privacy of an individual is withheld. However, in certain instances, where the requestor knows the identity of the individual at issue and the nature of certain incidents, the information must be withheld in its entirety to protect the individual's privacy.

In this instance, you state that the requestor knows the identity of the individual involved as well as the nature of the information in report number 0141514-V. Therefore, withholding only the individual's identity or certain details of the incident from the requestor would not preserve the subject individual's common-law right of privacy. Accordingly, to protect the privacy of the individual to whom the information relates, the department must withhold report number 014414-V in its entirety under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

However, you have not demonstrated, nor does it otherwise appear, that report number 0877848-W encompasses a situation where all of the submitted information must be withheld on the basis of common-law privacy. However, we find the information we have marked in report number 0877848-W is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public concern. Accordingly, the department must withhold the information we have marked in report number 0877848-W under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The remaining information in report number 0877848-W, however, is not highly intimate or embarrassing or is of legitimate public concern; therefore, the remaining information may not be withheld under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.

We note some of the remaining information is subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ Section 552.130 provides that information relating to a motor vehicle operator's license, driver's license, motor vehicle title, or registration issued by a Texas agency is excepted from public release. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1), (2). The department must withhold the Texas motor vehicle record information we have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽³⁾

In summary, the department must withhold report number 014414-V in its entirety and the information we have marked in report number 0877848-W under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. We have marked the Texas motor vehicle record information that the department must withhold under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining submitted 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# 406105

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. 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 Nos. 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. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception on behalf of a governmental body. See Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

3. We note Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009) is 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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