Erickson v. MacArthur
| Citation | 414 N.W.2d 406 |
| Decision Date | 06 November 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. C1-87-113,C1-87-113 |
| Parties | Donald and Virginia ERICKSON, individually and as guardians of Bonnie Erickson, a minor; Brian James Erickson; and Lynn Erickson, Respondents, v. Douglas MacARTHUR; Richard Dvorak; Elton Folkerts; Terry Balfanz; Joseph Doescher; Arlen Holland; Ronald Anderson; and the City of Minnetonka, a municipal corporation, Appellants. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Eyewitness statements taken during police Internal Affairs investigation are protected by a qualified privilege under Minn.Stat. Sec. 595.02, subd. 1(e).
Trial court erred in not reviewing materials contained in Internal Affairs files in camera prior to release, to insure that adequate protection is given to the privacy interests of citizens who give statements to police investigators.
Discovery order vacated and remanded.
Clifford M. Green, Louis P. Smith, Jon Parrington, Minneapolis, for appellants.
Joseph Nilan, Pandall D.B. Tigue, Minneapolis, for respondents.
Considered and decided by the court en banc.
Defendants/Petitioners, individual police officers of the Cities of Minnetonka and Eden Prairie, seek review of an Order Compelling Discovery of certain eyewitness statements taken during an Internal Affairs investigation conducted by the police department of the City of Minnetonka. The trial court ordered release without conducting an in camera inspection of the documents in question. We vacate the order and remand for in camera inspection in light of this opinion.
This action arises out of a party on August 25, 1984 at the Minnetonka home of plaintiffs, Donald and Virginia Erickson and their college-age son, Brian. A confrontation developed between local police officers and the plaintiffs.
Immediately after the episode, the Minnetonka Police Chief initiated a special Internal Affairs investigation to determine if internal discipline or other action against the police officers involved in the incident was warranted. Within a few days, party guests and neighbors who had witnessed the events that night were interviewed. Each was assured that any statements given would remain confidential.
The investigation resulted in no disciplinary action against the officers. Statements made to the investigators remain segregated in the Internal Affairs files of the Minnetonka police department. No one, other than the investigation team, has access to those files.
The City of Minnetonka did not file criminal charges against the Ericksons until October 10, 1984, nearly two months after the incident, and the Ericksons did not employ counsel until that time. As a result, their attorney had no opportunity to conduct the independent investigation normal under these circumstances while events were still fresh in the minds of witnesses. Therefore, the eyewitness statements in the Internal Affairs files are the only contemporaneous accounts of the events of that night.
When the Ericksons sought to compel discovery of the eyewitness statements, the City dismissed the criminal charges. Thereupon, the Ericksons initiated a civil suit against the individual police officers involved and the City of Minnetonka, alleging excessive force during the arrests and violation of their civil rights under Title 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. 1
Plaintiffs again requested disclosure of the eyewitness statements from the Internal Affairs investigation. The defendants objected, maintaining that the statements were not relevant, were privileged, and were confidential, pursuant to the Government Data Practices Act, Minnesota Statutes Sec. 13.01-13.90. Thereupon, plaintiffs moved for an Order Compelling Production of Documents. Defendants responded with a Motion for a Protective Order, under Rule 26.03, Minn.R.Civ.P.
The Hennepin County District Court granted the plaintiffs' motion but issued a protective order which restricted access to the documents solely to the plaintiffs' attorney. The plaintiffs themselves were precluded from learning either the identity of the witnesses or the contents of their statements. The court did not review the documents in camera prior to issuing the order. The individual police officers requested interlocutory review from the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals denied review, finding that no privilege prevented civil discovery of Internal Affairs files in Minnesota. We disagree.
1. Rule 26.02(1) of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure provides for broad discovery in civil proceedings. "Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action * * *." The trial court has considerable discretion in granting or denying discovery requests. Baskerville v. Baskerville, 246 Minn. 496, 507, 75 N.W.2d 762, 769 (1956); Connolly v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 373 N.W.2d 352, 354 (Minn.App.1985). Absent a clear abuse of discretion, a trial court's decision regarding discovery will not be disturbed. Connolly, 373 N.W.2d at 354.
Defendants maintain that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing civil discovery of eyewitness statements contained in the Internal Affairs files of the Minnetonka police department.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has recently allowed discovery of police internal investigation files in criminal proceedings. State v. Lynch, 392 N.W.2d 700, 705-06 (Minn.App.1986); State v. Hopperstad, 367 N.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Minn.App.1985). The critical factor in disclosing these records is a criminal defendant's constitutional right to exculpatory information in the hands of the prosecutor. See Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.01, subd. 1(1)(a), (6), and (7). This element is not present in a civil case.
In this case, the trial court properly analyzed the requested data under the Minnesota Data Practices Act, which governs data collected by agencies, including local law enforcement agencies.
The statute is silent on the status of data collected during the course of Internal Affairs investigations. If classified as law enforcement data, the statements are public and therefore subject to disclosure under Section 13.03, subd. 1. However, these statements were taken as part of an investigation to determine whether disciplinary action was warranted against individual police officers, and therefore they probably constitute private personnel data under Section 13.43. Data collected by a political subdivision in anticipation of pending civil legal action are also classified as nonpublic under Section 13.39, subd. 2.
The trial court correctly determined that even private or nonpublic data may be released pursuant to a court order. Minn.Stat. Sec. 13.03, subd. 4.
The two-tiered procedure to determine if a court order permitting discovery is warranted is outlined in Section 13.03, subd. 6:
The presiding officer shall first decide whether the data are discoverable or releasable pursuant to the rules of evidence and of criminal, civil, or administrative procedure appropriate to the action.
If the data are discoverable the presiding officer shall decide whether the benefit to the party seeking access to the data outweighs any harm to the confidentiality interests of the agency maintaining the data, or of any person who has provided the data or who is the subject of the data, or to the privacy interest of an individual identified in the data.
Minn.Stat. Sec. 13.03, subd. 6.
First, the trial court must determine if the statements were discoverable at all. As the only contemporaneous accounts of the events in question, in this case the requested eyewitness statements were deemed "quite relevant." Relevant data is discoverable, unless it is protected by a privilege. Minn.R.Civ.P. 26.02(1). Thus, the key factor in the court's inquiry is the existence of a privilege.
Section 595.02, subd. 1(e) provides: "A public officer shall not be allowed to disclose communications made to the officer in official confidence when the public interest would suffer by the disclosure." We...
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