March 7, 2012

Ms. Tiffany N. Evans

Assistant City Attorney

City of Houston

P.O. Box 368

Houston, Texas 77001-0368

OR2012-03418

Dear Ms. Evans:

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# 447150 (GC No. 19203).

The Houston Police Department (the "department") received a request for two specified police reports. You claim some of the submitted 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. 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. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). 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. Id. at 683. Generally, only highly intimate information that implicates the privacy of an individual is withheld. However, in certain instances, where it is demonstrated the requestor knows the identity of the individual involved, as well as the nature of certain incidents, the entire report must be withheld to protect the individual's privacy.

You claim Exhibit 3 is protected in its entirety by common-law privacy. In this instance, the request for information reflects the requestor knows the identity of the individual involved, as well as the nature of the incident at issue in Exhibit 3. Therefore, withholding only the individual's identity or certain details of that incident from the requestor would not preserve the subject individual's common-law right of privacy. Accordingly, the department must withhold Exhibit 3 in its entirety under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. You also assert common-law privacy for portions of Exhibit 2. Upon review, we agree that portions of this exhibit are highly intimate or embarrassing and of no legitimate public interest. Therefore, the department must withhold the information we have marked in Exhibit 2 under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.

In summary, the department must withhold Exhibit 3 in its entirety and the information we marked in Exhibit 2 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The department must release the remaining information in Exhibit 2.

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,

Kenneth Leland Conyer

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

KLC/dls

Ref: ID# 447150

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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