August 1, 2012

Ms. Jo-Christy Brown

Law Offices of JC Brown, PC

1411 West Avenue, Suite 100

Austin, Texas 78701

OR2012-12024

Dear Ms. Brown:

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# 465117.

The City of Bastrop, the Bastrop Police Department, and the Bastrop Municipal Court (collectively, the "city"), which you represent, received a request for information pertaining to a named individual. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.108 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 exception 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. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both elements of the test must be established. Id. at 681-82. A compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf. United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 764 (1989) (when considering prong regarding individual's privacy interest, court recognized distinction between public records found in courthouse files and local police stations and compiled summary of information and noted that individual has significant privacy interest in compilation of one's criminal history). We also find a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public.

The present request is for unspecified law enforcement records involving the named individual. Thus, this request requires the city to compile the individual's criminal history and thereby implicates her privacy interests. Therefore, to the extent the city maintains any information that depicts the named individual as a suspect, arrested person, or criminal defendant, the city must withhold any such information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. ⁽¹⁾ We note you have submitted information that does not list the named individual as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant. That information may not be withheld as a compilation of the individual's criminal history under section 552.101 and common-law privacy.

Common-law privacy under section 552.101 of the Government Code also encompasses the specific types of information considered to be intimate or embarrassing in Industrial Foundation, including information related 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 note, however, information at issue is related to a criminal investigation of family violence. The public has a legitimate interest in knowing the general details of a crime. See generally Lowe v. Hearst Communications, Inc., 487 F.3d 246, 250 (5th Cir. 2007) (noting a "legitimate public interest in facts tending to support an allegation of criminal activity" (citing Cinel v. Connick, 15 F.3d 1338, 1345-46 (1994)); Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d at 186-187 (public has legitimate interest in details of crime and police efforts to combat crime in community); Open Records Decision No. 611 at 1 (1992) (family violence is a crime, not a private matter). We therefore conclude the city may not withhold any of the remaining information under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.

We note the remaining information at issue includes a driver's license number. Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information related to a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license issued by an agency of this state or another state or country. ⁽²⁾ See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). The city must withhold the driver's license number we have marked under section 552.130.

In summary, to the extent the city maintains any information that depicts the named individual as a suspect, arrested person, or criminal defendant, the city must withhold any such information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The city must withhold the driver's license number we have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information at issue 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,

Ana Carolina Vieira

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ACV/ag

Ref: ID# 465117

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. As we are able to make this determination, we do not address your argument under section 552.108 of the Government Code.

2. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception on behalf of a governmental body but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. See Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

3. We note the information being released includes social security numbers. 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 under the Act.

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