 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
 |
March 1, 2011 Mr. Warrent M.S. Ernst City of Dallas City Attorney's Office 1500 Marilla Street, Room 7DN Dallas, Texas 75201 OR2011-02934 Dear Mr. Ernst: 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# 412760. The City of Dallas (the "city") received six requests for information pertaining to a specified Dallas Police Department investigation, including requests for the following categories of information: 1) video recordings, 2) audio recordings, 3) photographs, 4) correspondence between two named individuals, 5) call logs, 6) dispatch logs, and 7) affidavits. You state the city does not possess any information responsive to the requests for video recordings, photographs, call logs, dispatch logs, and affidavits. (1) You also state the city will release some of the responsive information, including the correspondence between the two named individuals. You claim the submitted documents and audio recording are excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information. We have also considered comments submitted by one of the requestors. See Gov't Code § 552.304 (providing that interested party may submit comments stating why information should or should not be released). 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, 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. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 683-85 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be established. Id. at 681-82. 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 find that none of the information at issue is highly intimate or embarrassing and of no legitimate public interest. Accordingly, the city may not withhold any portion of the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. As you raise no further exceptions to disclosure, the 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, Leah B. Wingerson Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division LBW/tf Ref: ID# 412760 Enc. Submitted documents c: Requestors (w/o enclosures) Ref: ID# 412760 Enc. Submitted documents STEVE THOMPSON AND SCOTT GOLDSTEIN DALLAS MORNING NEWS PO BOX 655237 DALLAS TX 75265 JASON WHITELY SENIOR REPORTER WFAA-TV 606 YOUNG ST DALLAS TX 75202 BRANDON P REED C/O WARREN M S ERNST CITY OF DALLAS 1500 MARILLA ST ROOM 7DN DALLAS TX 75201 SAM MERTEN 2501 OAK LAWN AVE #700 DALLAS TX 75219 ALLEN W MANNING ASSISGNMENT DESK EDITOR CBS 11 TV 5233 BRIDGE ST FORT WORTH TX 76103 Footnotes1. The Act does not require a governmental body to release information that did not exist when a request for information was received or to prepare new information in response to a request. See Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266, 267-68 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983).
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |