July 25, 2012

Mr. Gregory A. Alicie

Open Records Specialist

Baytown Police Department

3200 North Main Street

Baytown, Texas 77521

OR2012-11536

Dear Mr. Alicie:

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# 464819.

The Baytown Police Department (the "department") received a request for information pertaining to a specified incident. You state the department will redact social security numbers pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ You claim portions of the submitted information are 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. This section incorporates 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). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be satisfied. Id. at 681-82.

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. Upon review, we find you have failed to demonstrate that any of the information you have marked is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public interest. Therefore, none of the submitted information may be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code except from disclosure information that relates to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state or another state or country. Gov't Code § 552.130. We agree that the department must withhold the Texas motor vehicle record information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ The remaining information must be released. ⁽³⁾

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,

Paige Lay

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

PL/som

Ref: ID# 464819

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.147(b) of the Government Code 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. See Gov't Code § 552.147(b).

2. We note Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009) is a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including Texas license plate numbers under section 552.130, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

3. We note the requestor has a special right of access to some of the information being released. See Gov't Code § 552.023(a) (person or person's authorized representative has special right of access, beyond right of general public, to information held by governmental body that relates to person and is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect person's privacy interests); Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individuals request information concerning themselves). Therefore, if the department receives another request for this particular information from a different requestor, then the department must again seek a ruling from this office.

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