February 21, 2012

Ms. Jessica Sangsvang

Assistant City Attorney

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street, 3^rd Floor

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

OR2012-02678

Dear Ms. Sangsvang:

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# 446014 (City of Fort Worth PIR No. W013370).

The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for a copy of all police unit videos and 9-1-1 calls associated with a specified police report. You state the city has redacted a portion of the submitted information relating to a 9-1-1 caller pursuant to Open Records Letter No. 2011-15641 (2011). ⁽¹⁾ You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions 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 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). The types of information considered to be intimate and embarrassing by the Texas Supreme Court in Industrial Foundation include 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. Whether information is subject to a legitimate public interest and therefore not protected by common-law privacy must be determined on a case-by-case basis. See Open Records Decision No. 373 (1983). Generally, only highly intimate or embarrassing information that implicates the privacy of an individual is withheld. However, in certain instances, where the requestor knows the identity of the individual at issue and the nature of certain incidents, the information must be withheld in its entirety to protect the individual's privacy. Although you seek to withhold the submitted information in its entirety, you have not demonstrated, nor does it otherwise appear, that this is a situation where the submitted information must be withheld in its entirety on the basis of common-law privacy. Therefore, the submitted information may not be withheld in its entirety on that basis under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

This office has found that information that reflects an individual's personal financial decisions and is not related to a financial transaction between the individual and a governmental body is generally excepted from disclosure under common-law privacy. See Open Records Decision Nos. 600 (1992), 545 (1990). Upon review, we find the personal financial information we have marked is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public concern. Thus, the city must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy. However, we find you have failed to demonstrate how any of the remaining information is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public interest. Accordingly, the city may not withhold any of the remaining information under section 552.101 of the Government Code on that basis.

You state you will redact motor vehicle record information as permitted by section 552.130(c) of the Government Code and Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). Section 552.130(c) authorizes a governmental body to redact, without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office, the motor vehicle record information described in subsections 552.130(a)(1) and (a)(3). See Gov't Code § 552.130(c); see also id. § 552.130(d)-(e) (requestor may appeal governmental body's decision to withhold information under section 552.130(c) to attorney general, and governmental body withholding information pursuant to section 552.130(c) must provide certain notice to requestor). Open Records Decision No. 684 permits a governmental body to redact Texas license plate numbers, which are made confidential by section 552.130(a)(2), without requesting an attorney general decision. However, we note any other information made confidential by section 552.130(a)(2) is not subject to section 552.130(c) or Open Records Decision No. 684 and therefore may not be withheld without requesting a decision from this office. Thus, in addition to the information the city will redact under section 552.130(c) and Open Records Decision No. 684, the city must withhold the information we have marked and indicated under section 552.130(a)(2) of the Government Code.

In summary, the city must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The city must withhold the information we have marked and indicated under section 552.130(a)(2) of the Government Code. The city must release the remaining information.

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/agn

Ref: ID# 446014

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Open Records Letter No. 2011-15641is a previous determination issued to the city authorizing the city to withhold the originating telephone numbers of 9-1-1 callers furnished to the city by a service supplier established in accordance with chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.218 of the Health and Safety Code without requesting a decision from this office.

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