Aamodt v. Com., Dept. of Health

• Decision Date: 06 January 1986
• Docket Number: No. 371,371
• Citation: 502 A.2d 776,94 Pa.Cmwlth. 54
• Parties: Norman O. AAMODT and Marjorie M. Aamodt, Petitioners, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, Respondent. C.D. 1985.
• Court: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

Page 776

502 A.2d 776

94 Pa.Cmwlth. 54

Norman O. AAMODT and Marjorie M. Aamodt, Petitioners, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, Respondent.

No. 371 C.D. 1985.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Nov. 12, 1985.

Decided Jan. 6, 1986.

Norman O. Aamodt, Parkesburg, pro se.

Ruth E. Granfors, Asst. Counsel, Harrisburg, for respondent.

Before CRUMLISH, Jr., President Judge, and COLINS, J., and BARBIERI, Senior Judge.

BARBIERI, Senior Judge.

Norman O. Aamodt and Marjorie M. Aamodt, Petitioners, appeal here a decision of the Department of Health (Department) which denied their request for information under the Right to Know Act (Act), Act of June 21, 1957, P.L. 390, as amended, 65 P.S. §§ 66.1-66.4. The Department denied their request on the basis that the information desired did not fall within the right to know law's definition of "public record." We affirm.

The following facts are pertinent. Following the March 28, 1979 accident at the Unit 2 reactor of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI), the Department instituted a study on the effects of the TMI accident on pregnancy outcomes in the vicinity of TMI. In the course of this study, the Department collected information on pregnancy outcomes for an area within a ten-mile radius of TMI for the period of 1976 through 1984. The Department assured each of the participants in its study that all identifying data would be confidential information and that no information would be released to persons other than "collaborating researchers" without the written consent of the individual involved. By letter dated January 5, 1985, Petitioners requested from the Department the "raw data" from its TMI pregnancy study. The Department denied Petitioners' request for the TMI pregnancy study raw data as it contained individual identifiable data and because of the promise of confidentiality made by the Department to the study participants. The Department did, however, offer to provide the Petitioners with a statistical abstract of that data once its final report was issued. It is from the denial of their request for access to the TMI pregnancy study "raw data" that Petitioners now appeal.

In this appeal Petitioners contend that (1) the "raw data" obtained by the Department during the course of its TMI pregnancy study constitutes a "public record" under Section 1(2) of the Act, 65 P.S. § 66.1(2) which is subject to disclosure under Section 2 of the Act, 65 P.S. § 66.2; and (2) that the Department acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it refused to acknowledge Petitioners as "collaborating researchers" and denied them access to the confidential data of the TMI pregnancy study. We shall address these issues in the order stated, duly noting that our scope of review under the Act is limited to determining whether the Department's denial of the request for the desired information was for just and proper cause. Section 4 of the Act, 65 P.S. § 66.4.

Initially, Petitioners argue that the "raw data" which they desire is a "public record" as defined by 65 P.S. § 66.1(2). That section defines "public record" as follows:

(2) "Public Record." Any account, voucher or contract dealing with the receipt or disbursement of funds by an agency or its acquisition, use or disposal of services or of supplies, materials, equipment or other property and any minute, order or decision by an agency fixing the personal or property rights, privileges, immunities, duties or obligations of any person or group of persons: Provided, That the term "public records" shall not mean any report, communication or other paper, the publication of which would disclose the institution, progress or result of an investigation undertaken by an agency in the performance of its official duties.... or which would result in the loss by the Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions or commissions or State or municipal authorities of Federal funds, excepting therefrom however the record of any conviction for any criminal act. (Emphasis added).

While Petitioners never precisely define what they mean by their use of the term "raw data," we shall construe it to mean, as did the Department, the original surveys which the Department had solicited from the volunteers who engaged in the TMI pregnancy study.

These facts are similar to those in Wiley v. Woods, 393 Pa. 341, 141 A.2d 844 (1958), in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a City Planning Department staff member's field notes regarding a survey taken of a street in connection with a rezoning plan were not disclosable under the Act in that they did not constitute a "public record." The Court based its determination upon the exception contained in the Act's definition of a "public record," of papers the publication of which would disclose the institution, progress or result of an investigation undertaken by an agency in the performance of its official duties. The Court specifically held that notes of a field investigation are "clearly not embraced within the statute's definition of 'public records' and are within the category of records excepted and excluded from the definition of 'public records.' " Id. at 347-348, 141 A.2d at 848. Therefore, the Court concluded, the appellant had no right under the Act to examine the field investigation notes. This Court has recently followed the Wiley decision where we held that a private applicant's investigative product in conjunction with its application for funding to a Commonwealth agency is not amenable to...