February 7, 2011

Ms. Judith N. Benton

Assistant City Attorney

City of Waco

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76702-2570

OR2011-01839

Dear Ms. Benton:

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# 408308 (City of Waco Reference # LGL-10-1649).

The Waco Police Department (the "department") received a request for information pertaining to a specified 9-1-1 call. You indicate the city is releasing some information to the requestor. 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," and encompasses information made confidential by other statutes. Gov't Code § 552.101. You have marked a telephone number and address in the submitted computer aided dispatch record that you seek to withhold under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. Chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code relates to local emergency communications districts. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency 9-1-1 district established in accordance with chapter 772 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). We understand the City of Waco to be part of an emergency communication district that was established under section 772.318. ⁽¹⁾ Provided that the information you have marked consists of the originating telephone number and address furnished by a 9-1-1 service supplier, we agree the department must withhold the marked telephone number and address under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. However, to the extent the marked information is not the originating telephone number and address furnished by a 9-1-1 service supplier, section 772.318 is not applicable to this information, and it must be released to the requestor.

Section 552.101 also encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information if it: (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 types 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. In addition, this office has found that medical information or information indicating disabilities or specific illnesses is excepted from required public disclosure under common-law privacy. See Open Records Decision No. 455 (1987) (prescription drugs, illnesses, operations, and physical handicaps). Upon review, we agree that portions of the information you have marked are highly intimate or embarrassing and of no legitimate public concern. Therefore, the department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. However, you have failed to demonstrate how any of the remaining information is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public interest. Thus, none of the remaining information may be withheld on the basis of common-law privacy.

In summary, to the extent the marked telephone number and address are the originating telephone number and address supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier, this information must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. The department must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. 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,

Sarah Casterline

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

SEC/vb

Ref: ID# 408308

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency communication district for a county with a population of more than 20,000.

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