Detroit Free Press v. Southfield
| Decision Date | 20 December 2005 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 260639.,Docket No. 260083. |
| Citation | 269 Mich. App. 275,713 N.W.2d 28 |
| Parties | DETROIT FREE PRESS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF SOUTHFIELD, Defendant-Appellant, and City of Southfield Fire and Police Retirement System, City of Ann Arbor Employees' Retirement System, City of Taylor Police and Fire Retirement Fund Board, and City of Westland Police and Fire Retirement Board, Defendants. Detroit Free Press, Inc., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. City of Southfield Fire and Police Retirement System, City of Ann Arbor Employees' Retirement System, City of Taylor Police and Fire Retirement Fund Board, and City of Westland Police and Fire Retirement Board, Defendant. and City of Southfield, Defendant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US |
Honigan Miller Schwartz & Cohn (by Herschel P. Fink and Cameron J. Evans), Detroit, for Detroit Free Press, Inc.
Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho, P.C. (by T. Joseph Seward and Donna A. Heiser), Livonia, for the city of Southfield.
VanOverbeke, Michaud & Timmony, P.C. (by Michael J. VanOverbeke and Jack Timmony), Detroit, for the City of Southfield Fire and Police Retirement System, City of Ann Arbor Employees' Retirement System, City of Taylor Police and Fire Retirement Board, and City of Westland Police and Fire Retirement Board.
Before: WHITBECK, C.J., and SAAD and O'CONNELL, JJ.
In this case involving Michigan's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), MCL 15.231 et seq., defendant city of Southfield appeals by right an order granting summary disposition in favor of plaintiff Detroit Free Press, Inc., against defendants. The remaining defendant retirement systems appeal the same order by leave granted. Defendants present overlapping arguments challenging the trial court's ruling that each defendant violated the FOIA by refusing to disclose the names and corresponding pension income amounts of the "top twenty" police and fire fighter pension recipients from each public body. We affirm.
In January 2004, plaintiff's Lansing Bureau Chief, Chris Christoff, sent a letter to defendant city of Southfield that requested a list of the individuals who receive the 20 largest pension payouts from the City of Southfield's general employee and police and fire retirement systems.
Please include the names of 20 top current pension recipients of each retirement system, the amount of their pension benefits and information showing how individual pensions are calculated.
Christoff apparently never sent an FOIA request to the city's retirement system. The city, upon receiving Christoff's request, informed Christoff that it should have been submitted directly to defendant City of Southfield Fire and Police Retirement System's board of trustees. Nevertheless, the city eventually released information to Christoff. In its correspondence, the city noted that "a list of individuals who receive the 20 largest pension payouts, etc." did not exist. The city further stated, however, that it had compiled the information Christoff requested and created the lists. In the listed information disclosed, the city provided the names of retired fire department employees along with their pension amounts, but it did not provide the names of any police department retirees. Instead, it provided the current "top twenty" pension incomes with the former rank of the retired officer who received each income. In its reply, the city stated that it considered the release of the names of police officers exempt under MCL 15.243(1)(s)(ix), because their release would disclose information from personnel records of law enforcement agencies. The Southfield Fire and Police Retirement System later sent a separate letter noting that it had been belatedly advised of the actions taken by the city. The letter explained that it objected to the city's release of the information, and that plaintiff should send future requests for retirement information directly to the system.
Around the same time, plaintiff sent requests for the same information to the other defendant police and fire fighter retirement systems. In each case, plaintiff received a similar response — a list of ranks and their corresponding pension incomes, but no names. Plaintiff sued to compel the release of the retirees' names with their corresponding pension incomes, and the trial court granted summary disposition in its favor.
Defendants argue that the trial court erred in concluding that the names of the police officers and their corresponding pension incomes were subject to disclosure under the FOIA. We reject defendants' arguments. We review de novo a trial court's decision to grant summary disposition, Maiden v. Rozwood, 461 Mich. 109, 118, 597 N.W.2d 817 (1999) Under the FOIA, an individual has the right to inspect, copy, or receive copies of a public record after providing the public body's FOIA coordinator with a "written request that describes a public record sufficiently to enable the public body to find the public record...." MCL 15.233(1). The request need not specifically describe the records containing the sought information; rather, a request for information contained in the records will suffice. Herald Co. v. Bay City, 463 Mich. 111, 122, 614 N.W.2d 873 (2000). The FOIA defines a "public record" as "a writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the performance of an official function, from the time it is created." MCL 15.232(e). In response to an FOIA request, however, the public body is not generally required to make a compilation, summary, or report of information, nor is it generally required to create a new public record. MCL 15.233(4), (5). If a public body denies an FOIA request because it claims that a record does not exist, the public body must send written notice including a "certificate that the public record does not exist under the name given by the requester or by another name reasonably known to the public body...." MCL 15.235(4)(b). In court, the burden is on the public body to justify its denial. MCL 15.240(4); MacKenzie v. Wales Twp., 247 Mich.App. 124, 128, 635 N.W.2d 335 (2001).
Consistent with the FOIA's underlying policies, a public body is required to grant full disclosure of its records, unless they are specifically exempt under MCL 15.243. MCL 15.231; Herald Co., supra at 118-119, 614 N.W.2d 873. Courts narrowly construe any claimed exemption and place the burden of proving its applicability on the public body asserting it. Herald Co., supra at 119, 614 N.W.2d 873; MCL 15.240(4).
Defendant retirement systems do not challenge the allegation that they possess public documents that contain the requested information; rather, they argue that the information is exempt from disclosure. Specifically, they argue that MCL 15.243(1)(a) applies. This subsection exempts disclosure of personal information if public disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy. Bradley v. Saranac Community Schools Bd. of Ed., 455 Mich. 285, 293, 565 N.W.2d 650 (1997). Information is of a personal nature if it "reveals intimate or embarrassing details of an individual's private life" according to the moral standards, customs, and views of the community. Id. at 294, 565 N.W.2d 650. Determining whether the disclosure of such information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy requires a court to balance the public interest in disclosure against the interest the Legislature intended the exemption to protect. Mager v. Dep't of State Police, 460 Mich 134, 144-145, 595 N.W.2d 142 (1999). The only relevant public interest is the extent to which disclosure would serve the core purpose of the FOIA, which is to facilitate citizens' ability to be informed about the decisions and priorities of their government. Id. at 145-146, 595 N.W.2d 142. This interest is best served through information about the workings of government or information concerning whether a public body is performing its core function. Id. at 146, 595 N.W.2d 142.
Regarding the first prong, the names of pension recipients combined with their pension amounts is not information of a personal nature. The information does not solely relate to private assets or personal decisions. See, e.g., Stone Street Capital, Inc. v. Bureau of State Lottery, 263 Mich. App. 683, 692-693, 689 N.W.2d 541 (2004) (); Mager, supra at 143-144, 595 N.W.2d 142 (). Rather, the pension amounts reflect specific governmental decisions regarding retirees' continuing compensation for public service. Therefore, the pension amounts are more comparable to public salaries than to private assets. See Penokie v. Michigan Technological Univ., 93 Mich.App. 650, 663, 287 N.W.2d 304 (1979), disapproved in part on other grounds in State Employees Ass'n v. Dep't of Mgt. & Budget, 428 Mich. 104, 117 n. 15, 404 N.W.2d 606 (1987) (Cavanagh, J.). In Penokie, supra at 663, 287 N.W.2d 304, we stated that the disclosure of the names and salaries of university employees would not
Defendants argue that the information is exempt in this case though because the pensions are drawn from "private" trust assets. We disagree. Records are not automatically exempt under the FOIA merely because they contain information about private assets. Rather,...
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