Cimarusti v. Superior Court

• Decision Date: 04 April 2000
• Docket Number: No. B136762.,B136762.
• Citation: Cimarusti v. Superior Court, 94 Cal.Rptr.2d 336, 79 Cal.App.4th 799 (Cal. App. 2000)
• Court: California Court of Appeals
• Parties: Don T. CIMARUSTI et al., Petitioners, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Los Angeles County, Respondent; Department of the Youth Authority, Real Party in Interest.

94 Cal.Rptr.2d 336

79 Cal.App.4th 799

Don T. CIMARUSTI et al., Petitioners, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Los Angeles County, Respondent Department of the Youth Authority, Real Party in Interest.

No. B136762.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 4.

April 4, 2000.

As Modified April 26, 2000.

Christine Albertine, Rancho Cucamonga, Rudy E. Jansen, and Benjamin C. Sybesma, West Sacramento, for Petitioners.

No appearance for Respondent.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, James Schiavenza, Jacob A. Appelsmith, and Diana L. Cuomo, Deputy Attorneys General, for Real Party in Interest.

CHARLES S. VOGEL, P.J.

INTRODUCTION

Petitioners, Don T. Cimarusti, Larry A. Coon, Mark A. Saavedra, and John M. Saffold were Youth Correctional Officers employed by the Department of the Youth Authority. Each petitioner received a notice of adverse action informing him that he was dismissed for engaging in or observing and failing to stop or report the use of unauthorized physical force on six wards in the custody of the Youth Authority and housed in the Nixon Cottage at the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility. Petitioners appealed the adverse actions, and the matter is now pending before the State Personnel Board.

Petitioners requested discovery of certain evidence for potential use at the administrative hearing. Government Code section 19574.1 provides in pertinent part, "(a) An employee who has been served with notice of adverse action [or the employee's representative] shall have the right to inspect any documents in the possession of, or under the control of, the appointing power which are relevant to the adverse action taken or which would constitute 'relevant evidence' as defined in Section 210 of the Evidence Code. The employee, or the designated representative, shall also have the right to interview other employees having knowledge of the acts or omissions upon which the adverse action was based. Interviews of other employees and inspection of documents shall be at times and places reasonable for the employee and for the appointing power."

The Youth Authority provided certain discovery, including photographs of the six wards' cells in Nixon Cottage, taped statements of the six wards and members of the staff, letters by the wards describing the incident, photographs depicting the six wards' injuries, and medical reports regarding the evaluation and treatment of those injuries.

Petitioners requested the following items which the Youth Authority declined to provide on the ground that they included juvenile court records, which can be disclosed only upon an order of the juvenile court pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 827: (1) the ward roster for Nixon Cottage for the period January 1-14, 1999; (2) the "disciplinary files" on the six wards; and (3) the medical files on the six wards. According to the evidence, the Youth Authority does not maintain separate "disciplinary files" on each ward, only master files and field files, which contain virtually all the available information about the wards, including their juvenile court records, and medical files that may contain juvenile court records. The Youth Authority also denied petitioners' request for access to the six wards for interviews by petitioners' counsel.

Following an administrative law judge's denial of their petition for discovery of these items, petitioners moved in superior court to compel discovery pursuant to Government Code section 19574.2. Petitioners contended the requested records were relevant within the meaning of Government Code section 19574.1 and were not juvenile court records as claimed by the Youth Authority, and therefore petitioners had a right to their production. Petitioners also contended they had a due process right of access to the wards to interview them.

The Youth Authority responded that petitioners' broad requests included juvenile court records, which can be disclosed only by order of the juvenile court pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 827, and that even assuming the records might be relevant within the meaning of Government Code section 19574.1, only the juvenile court had authority to decide whether they should be disclosed to petitioners, upon a balancing of petitioners' need for the records against the established policy to preserve the confidentiality of juvenile court proceedings. As to access to the wards for interviews, the Youth Authority contended petitioners had no right, either under Government Code section 19574.1 or as a matter of due process, to require that the wards give interviews to petitioners prior to an administrative hearing before the State Personnel Board.

The trial court essentially agreed with the Youth Authority that the records sought by petitioners are confidential records that only the juvenile court can order disclosed, pursuant to procedures required by Welfare and Institutions Code section 827. It commented, "I don't believe I have the authority.... Now where it lies and whether some other court can actually do it, I don't want to speak for another court, but I don't believe it's something I can or should do." By denying the petition in its entirety, the trial court also refused to require the Youth Authority to provide access to the wards for prehearing interviews.

The trial court's order is not appealable; review by extraordinary writ is expressly provided in Government Code section 19574.2, subdivision (h). We issued an order to show cause and stayed the State Personnel Board administrative hearings.

We now conclude the trial court was essentially correct. In their present form, petitioners' broad requests for discovery include juvenile court records that are confidential under Welfare and Institutions Code section 827. In order to rule on petitioners' requests, the judge might need to review the Youth Authority files, which contain juvenile court records. Only the juvenile court or a judge designated by the presiding judge of the juvenile court has such authority. We also conclude petitioners have no right of access to the wards for prehearing interviews. We conclude the trial court properly denied relief to petitioners, although this is without prejudice to further proceedings following a proper request by petitioners to the presiding judge of the juvenile court.

JUVENILE COURT RECORDS

Juvenile court records may not be disclosed or disseminated except by order of the juvenile court. The juvenile court has exclusive authority to determine the extent to which juvenile court records may be disclosed. (Welf. & Inst.Code, § 827; T.N.G. v. Superior Court (1971) 4 Cal.3d 767, 778, 94 Cal. Rptr. 813, 484 P.2d 981; In re Keisha T. (1995) 38 Cal.App.4th 220, 232, 44 Cal. Rptr.2d 822; see Parmett v. Superior Court (1989) 212 Cal.App.3d 1261, 1269, 262 Cal.Rptr. 387.) The fact that Government Code section 19574.1 requires disclosure to disciplined employees of records in the possession of the appointing power is not controlling. To the extent the records are juvenile court records, Welfare and Institutions Code section 827 is deemed the more specific and controlling statute. (Wescott v. County of Yuba (1980) 104 Cal.App.3d 103, 106, 163 Cal.Rptr. 385 ["Section 827 of the Welfare and Institutions Code[ ] expressly covers the confidentiality of juvenile court records and their release to third parties, and is controlling over the Public Records Act to the extent of any conflict."].)

At the time of the trial court hearing in this case, Welfare and Institutions Code section 827, subdivision (a) defined the protected documents as "a petition filed in any juvenile court proceeding, reports of the probation officer, and all other documents filed in that case or made available ... and thereafter retained...."¹ Rule 1423(a) of the California Rules of Court defines the protected "juvenile court records" to include: (1) all documents filed in a juvenile court case; (2) reports to the court by probation officers, social workers, and special advocates; (3) documents made available to probation officers, social workers, and special advocates in preparation of such reports; (4) documents relating to a child concerning whom a petition has been filed, which are maintained in the office files of probation officers, social workers, and special advocates; (5) transcripts, records, or reports relating to matters prepared or released by the court, probation department, or child welfare program; and (6) documents and exhibits admitted into evidence at juvenile court hearings.

In the present case, petitioners have requested the Youth Authority's "disciplinary files" and "medical files" on the six wards, but the evidence shows the Youth Authority does not maintain separate files in that manner. Rather, the Youth Authority maintains a "master file" and a "field file," each of which includes, among many documents, copies of the transmitting juvenile court's records. The Youth Authority's medical file on each ward may contain juvenile court records. The Youth Authority does not here claim that every document placed in a ward's file while the ward is committed to the custody of the Youth Authority is a juvenile court record. But it is clear from the declarations that the Youth Authority files include documents transmitted from the juvenile court that unquestionably are juvenile court records as defined by Welfare and Institutions Code section 827 and rule 1423.

Only a judge of the juvenile court is authorized to review the Youth Authority's disciplinary and medical files which purportedly contain juvenile court records. Judges of the juvenile court are specifically designated to conduct the business of the juvenile court. Superior court judges not so designated may not hear and rule on juvenile court matters. Welfare and Institutions Code section 246 provides that "In counties having more than one judge of the superior court, the presiding judge of such court ... shall annually, in the...