April 30, 2012

Mr. Stephen Cumbie

Mr. Tyler F. Wallach

Assistant City Attorneys

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

OR2012-06152

Dear Mr. Cumbie and Mr. Wallach:

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# 452275 (PIR Nos. W014818 and W015027).

The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received two requests from the same requestor for information pertaining to a specified incident. You state the city's police department does not have some of the requested information. ⁽¹⁾ You state you are releasing some of the requested information. You inform us that the city will redact portions of the submitted information relating to a 9-1-1 caller pursuant to Open Records Letter Nos. 2011-15641 (2011) and 2011-15956 (2011). ⁽²⁾ You also inform us that the city will redact certain driver's license information pursuant to section 552.130(c) of the Government Code ⁽³⁾, and Texas license plate numbers under section 552.130(a)(2) pursuant to Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). ⁽⁴⁾ You further inform us that the city will redact a social security number pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code. ⁽⁵⁾ You claim that portions of the submitted information are 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 common-law right to privacy, which protects information if it (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). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be met. Id. at 681-82.

The type 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. This office has found some kinds of medical information or information indicating disabilities or specific illnesses are generally highly intimate or embarrassing. See Open Records Decision Nos. 470 (1987) (illness from severe emotional and job-related stress), 455 (1987) (prescription drugs, illnesses, operations, and physical handicaps). Upon review, we find the information you have marked, and the additional information we have marked, is highly intimate or embarrassing and of no legitimate public interest. Therefore, the city must withhold the marked information under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy. 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,

Sean Opperman

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

SO/dls

Ref: ID# 452275

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Act does not require a governmental body to disclose information that did not exist when the request for information was received. Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision No. 452 at 3 (1986).

2. Open Records Letter Nos. 2011-15641 and 2011-15956 are previous determinations issued to the city authorizing the city to withhold the originating telephone numbers and addresses, respectively, 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.

3. The Texas legislature amended section 552.130 of the Government Code effective September 1, 2011, to allow a governmental body to redact the information described in subsections 552.130(a)(1) and (a)(3) without the necessity of seeking a decision from the attorney general. See 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 id. § 552.130(d), (e).

4. Open Records Decision No. 684 is a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including a Texas license plate number under section 552.130, without the necessity of seeking a decision from this office.

5. Section 552.147(b) 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 under the Act. Gov't Code § 552.147(b).

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