December 20, 2012

Mr. Steven Meyer

Assistant City Attorney

Legal Division

Arlington Police Department

P.O. Box 1065, Mail Stop 04-0200

Arlington, Texas 76004-1065

OR2012-20614

Dear Mr. Meyer:

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# 474637 (Reference No. 9237).

The Arlington Police Department (the "department") received a request for information related to a specified incident. You claim that 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. Section 552.101 encompasses constitutional and common-law rights to privacy. Common-law privacy 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 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.

Constitutional privacy protects two kinds of interests. See Whalen v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589, 599-600 (1977); Open Records Decision Nos. 600 at 3-5 (1992), 478 at 4 (1987), 455 at 3-7 (1987). The first is the interest in independence in making certain important decisions relating to the "zones of privacy" pertaining to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, and child rearing and education the United States Supreme Court has recognized. See Fadjo v. Coon, 633 F.2d 1172 (5th Cir. 1981); ORD 455 at 3-7. The second constitutionally protected privacy interest is in freedom from public disclosure of certain personal matters. See Ramie v. City of Hedwig Village, Tex., 765 F.2d 490 (5th Cir. 1985); ORD 455 at 6-7. This aspect of constitutional privacy balances the individual's privacy interest against the public's interest in the information. See ORD 455 at 7. Constitutional privacy under section 552.101 is reserved for "the most intimate aspects of human affairs" and the scope of information protected is narrower than that under the common-law doctrine of privacy. Id. at 5 (internal quotations omitted) (quoting Ramie, 765 F.2d at 492).

Upon review, we find you have not demonstrated that any of the submitted information is highly intimate or embarrassing and not a matter of legitimate public interest. Further, you have failed to demonstrate how any of the submitted information falls within the zones of privacy or otherwise implicates an individual's privacy interests for the purposes of constitutional privacy. We therefore conclude the department may not withhold any of the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law or constitutional privacy. As no other exceptions to disclosure are raised, the department must release the submitted information.

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,

Cynthia G. Tynan

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CGT/akg

Ref: ID# 474637

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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