September 25, 2012

Mr. John Mark Cobern

Titus County Attorney

100 West First Street

Mount Pleasant, Texas 75455

OR2012-15280

Dear Mr. Cobern:

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# 466234.

The Titus County Auditor's Office (the "auditor's office") received a request for an accounting of all uncashed checks which have been outstanding for six months or more and an accounting of any unclaimed funds which have not been escheated to the state. You claim 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). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be demonstrated. Id. at 681-82. This office has found that information that reflects an individual's personal financial decisions and is not related to a financial transaction between the individual and a governmental body is generally excepted from disclosure under common-law privacy. See Open Records Decision Nos. 600 (1992), 545 (1990). We note that common-law privacy protects the privacy interests of individuals, but not of corporations or other types of business organizations. See Open Records Decision Nos. 620 (1993) (corporation has no right to privacy), 192 (1978) (right to privacy is designed primarily to protect human feelings and sensibilities, rather than property, business, or other pecuniary interests); see also U. S. v. Morton Salt Co., 338 U.S. 632, 652 (1950); Rosen v. Matthews Constr. Co., 777 S.W.2d 434 (Tex. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1989), rev'd on other grounds, 796 S.W.2d 692 (Tex. 1990) (corporation has no right to privacy). In this instance, some of the submitted information pertains to businesses and not to an individual. Further, we note that the remaining information does not reveal personal financial decisions, or is information that pertains to financial transactions between a governmental body and individuals. Upon review, we find no portion of the submitted information is highly intimate or embarrassing and of legitimate public concern. Thus, we determine the auditor's office may not withhold any portion of the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

Section 552.136(b) of the Government Code provides "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of [the Act], a credit card, debit card, charge card, or access device number that is collected, assembled, or maintained by or for a governmental body is confidential." ⁽¹⁾ Gov't Code § 552.136(b); see id. § 552.136(a) (defining "access device"). Upon review, we find the auditor's office must withhold the bank account and routing numbers we have marked under section 552.136 of the Government Code. As no further exceptions to disclosure have been raised, 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,

Nneka Kanu

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

NK/bhf

Ref: ID# 466234

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

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

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