March 29, 2011

Ms. J. Middlebrooks

Assistant City Attorney

City of Dallas

1400 South Lamar

Dallas, Texas 75215

OR2011-04279

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# 412616 (ORR# 2011-00163).

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for the complete report pertaining to service number 340229-X. You claim portions of the submitted information are excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.108, and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses 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). In addition, this office has found that an individual's criminal history when compiled by a governmental body may be protected under common-law privacy. Cf. United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989). We note records relating to routine traffic violations are not considered criminal history information. Cf. Gov't Code § 411.082(2)(B) (criminal history record information does not include driving record information). Determinations under common-law privacy must be made on a case-by-case basis. See Indus. Found., 540 S.W.2d at 685 (whether matter is of legitimate interest to public can be considered only in context of each particular case); Open Records Decision No. 373 at 4 (1983). Upon review, we find the information you have marked is not highly intimate or embarrassing or is of legitimate public interest. Therefore, the department may not withhold the marked information under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.

Section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). A governmental body claiming section 552.108 must reasonably explain how and why this exception is applicable to the information at issue. See id. §§ 552.108(a)(1), .301(e)(1)(A); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state the information you have marked pertains to a pending criminal prosecution for driving while intoxicated. Based upon your representation, we conclude release of the information you have marked will interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976). Accordingly, we find the department may withhold the information you have marked under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code provides 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). We note section 552.130 protects personal privacy. Accordingly, the department must generally withhold the Texas motor vehicle record information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ However, in this instance, the requestor may be the spouse of the individual whose Texas motor vehicle record information is at issue. Thus, the requestor may be this individual's authorized representative, or may be an owner of the vehicle at issue. If the requestor is the authorized representative of this individual or is an owner of the vehicle at issue, then she has a special right of access to information that would ordinarily be withheld to protect privacy interests. See Gov't Code § 552.023(a) (person or person's authorized representative has special right of access, beyond right of general public, to information held by governmental body that relates to person and is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect person's privacy interests). Thus, if the requestor is the individual's authorized representative or is an owner of the vehicle at issue, then the department may not withhold the information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. See Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individual requests information concerning himself). Conversely, if the requestor is not the individual's authorized representative and is not an owner of the vehicle at issue, then the department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code.

In summary, the department may withhold the information you have marked under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. If the requestor is not the individual's authorized representative and is not an owner of the vehicle at issue, then the department must also withhold the information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released. ⁽³⁾

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,

Claire V. Morris Sloan

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CVMS/tf

Ref: ID# 412616

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We assume 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 those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

2. 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 Texas driver's license and license plate numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

3. We note the information being released contains a social security number. 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. See Gov't Code § 552.147(b).

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