December 19, 2011

Mr. Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

P.O. Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277

OR2011-18594

Dear Mr. Bounds:

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# 439950.

The Corpus Christi Police Department (the "department") received a request for incident report #1110100049. You indicate the department is providing most of the information in the incident report to the requestor. You claim a portion of the report is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ 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 common-law right to privacy, which protects information that is (1) highly intimate or embarrassing, such that its release would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) not of legitimate concern to the public. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be established. See id. at 681-82. Determinations under common-law privacy must be made on a case-by-case basis. See Open Records Decision No. 373 at 4 (1983); 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). The types 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. See 540 S.W.2d at 683. We agree the information you have marked is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate concern to the public. Therefore, the department must withhold the marked information from disclosure 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,

Karen Hattaway

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

KEH/sdk

Ref: ID# 439950

Enc. Submitted document

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note you have redacted a driver's license number from the submitted information. On September 1, 2011, the Texas legislature amended section 552.130 of the Government Code to allow a governmental body to redact the information described in subsections 552.130(a)(1) and (a)(3), including driver's license numbers, without the necessity of seeking a decision from the attorney general. See Act of May 30, 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., S.B. 602, § 22 (to be codified as Gov't Code § 552.130(c)). If a governmental body redacts such information, it must notify the requestor in accordance with section 552.130(e). See Act of May 30, 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., S.B. 602, § 22 (to be codified as Gov't Code § 552.130(d), (e)).

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