March 29, 2011

Ms. Judith Benton

Assistant City Attorney

City of Waco

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76701-2570

OR2011-04325

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# 412751 (Waco Ref. No. LGL-11-021).

The City of Waco (the "city") received a request for a report filed by the requestor against a named individual during a specified month. 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 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 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, 685 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be satisfied. See id. at 681-82. A compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf. United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 764 (1989) (when considering prong regarding individual's privacy interest, court recognized distinction between public records found in courthouse files and local police stations and compiled summary of information and noted that individual has significant privacy interest in compilation of one's criminal history). Furthermore, we find a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public. You assert the present request requires the city to compile the criminal history of the named individual. However, we find the requestor is seeking a specified report. Accordingly, the request itself does not implicate the privacy interests of the named individual and the submitted information may not be withheld in its entirety as a criminal history compilation based on common-law privacy. You also state a portion of the submitted information, which you have highlighted, consists of the named individual's criminal history. In this instance, however, we find the public has a legitimate interest in the marked information you contend is private. We therefore conclude the city may not withhold the criminal history information you highlighted under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

We note the remaining information contains Texas motor vehicle information subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information that relates to a motor vehicle operator's license or driver's license issued by a Texas agency. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). Therefore, the city must withhold the Texas motor vehicle record information we have marked under section 552.130. ⁽²⁾ As you raise no further exceptions against disclosure, 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,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/em

Ref: ID# 412751

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Office of the Attorney General will raise mandatory exceptions on behalf of a governmental body, but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

2. We note this office issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including a Texas driver's license number under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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