February 14, 2011

Mr. David M. Douglas

Assistant City Attorney

City of Austin

P.O. Box 1088

Austin, Texas 78767-8828

OR2011-02174

Dear Ms. Douglas:

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# 409289.

The Austin Police Department (the "department") received two requests for a specified police report. You claim the submitted information is 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, which 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 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. In Open Records Decision No. 339 (1982), we concluded a sexual assault victim has a common-law privacy interest which prevents disclosure of information that would identify the victim. See Morales v. Ellen, 840 S.W.2d 519 (Tex. App.-- El Paso 1992, writ denied) (identities of witnesses to and victims of sexual harassment was highly intimate or embarrassing information and public did not have a legitimate interest in such information). Generally, only the information that either identifies or tends to identify a victim of sexual assault or other sex-related offense must be withheld under common-law privacy; however, a governmental body is required to withhold an entire report when identifying information is inextricably intertwined with other releasable information or when the requestor knows the identity of the alleged victim. See Open Records Decisions Nos. 393 (1983), 339; see also Open Records Decision No. 440 (1986). In this instance, the requestors know the identity of the alleged sexual assault victim. Therefore, withholding only the alleged victim's identity or certain details of the incident from the requestors would not preserve the subject individual's common-law right of privacy. Thus, the department must withhold the submitted information in its entirety under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.

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,

Sean Nottingham

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

SN/eeg

Ref: ID# 409289

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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