September 10, 2012

Ms. Judi S. Rawls

Police Administrative Legal Counsel

Beaumont Police Department

P.O. Box 3827

Beaumont, Texas 77704-3827

OR2012-14298

Dear Ms. Rawls:

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# 468907.

The Beaumont Police Department (the "department") received a request for information pertaining to a named individual. You claim that the requested 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. Section 552.101 encompasses the doctrine of common-law 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. 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 prongs of this test must be established. See 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. U.S. 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). Moreover, we find a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public.

You assert the present request requires the department to compile the criminal history of a certain individual. However, we note the requestor is an attorney representing the individual at issue. As this individual's authorized representative, the requestor has a right of access to information concerning his client that would otherwise be withheld to protect his client's privacy. 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, the department may not withhold any of the submitted information as a criminal history compilation under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

The submitted information contains a CR-3 accident report. Section 552.101 of the Government Code also encompasses section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code, which states that except as provided by subsection (c), accident reports are privileged and confidential. See Transp. Code § 550.065. Section 550.065(c)(4) provides for the release of accident reports to a person who provides two of the following three pieces of information: (1) date of the accident; (2) name of any person involved in the accident; and (3) specific location of the accident. See id. § 550.065(c)(4). In this instance, the requestor has not provided the department with two of the three requisite pieces of information specified by section 550.065(c)(4). Accordingly, the department must withhold the CR-3 accident report we have marked from the requestor under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 550.065 of the Transportation Code.

Section 552.130 provides that information relating to a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit or a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state or another state or country is excepted from public release. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1)-(2). Upon review, the department must withhold the information marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code.

In summary, the department must withhold the CR-3 accident report we have marked from the requestor under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 550.065 of the Transportation Code. The department must withhold the information marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The department must release the remaining information. ⁽¹⁾

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/tch

Ref: ID# 468907

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note the requestor has a right of access to some of the information being released. If the department receives another request for this same information from a different requestor, it must again seek a ruling from this office.

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