Feeney v. Scott County

• Decision Date: 23 April 1980
• Docket Number: No. 63243,63243
• Citation: 290 N.W.2d 885
• Parties: Willis FEENEY, Appellant, v. SCOTT COUNTY, Iowa and the City of Davenport, Iowa, a Municipal Corporation, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 885

290 N.W.2d 885

Willis FEENEY, Appellant, v. SCOTT COUNTY, Iowa and the City of Davenport, Iowa, a Municipal Corporation, Appellees.

No. 63243.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 23, 1980.

Gordon E. Allen, Des Moines, and John R. Aitken, Davenport, for appellant.

Seymore Raben and Celeste Bremer, Davenport, for appellees.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C. J., and REES, HARRIS, McGIVERIN, and LARSON, JJ.

LARSON, Justice.

In the course of an investigation for the Scott County Civil Service Commission, sheriff's deputy Charles Vollmer found a small index card in the files of the Davenport Police Department, which has become the source of this litigation. Willis Feeney, the job applicant referred to on the card, contends the police had no right to disseminate this information to Vollmer and that he had no right to redisseminate it to the commission.

This appeal raises, for the first time in this court, issues of interpretation of our statute on accumulation and distribution of criminal history and intelligence data, chapter 749B, The Code 1975 (now found and hereinafter referred to as chapter 692). The plaintiff, alleging violations of the act obtained an award for damages and attorney's fees against the City of Davenport and Scott County. He appealed from that judgment, asserting that the trial court erred (1) in finding that there were only two violations of the act, resulting in an insufficient damage award in view of the statutory minimum of $100 per violation, (2) in failing to award exemplary damages, and (3) in setting the amount of attorney's fees. He also asks that we award attorney's fees incurred in prosecuting this appeal. (His original prayer for expungement of the records is not raised on appeal.) We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand the case to the trial court.

In April, 1975, Willis Feeney applied, along with fifty-two others, for a position as deputy with the Scott County Sheriff's Office. He took and passed the examination administered by the Scott County Civil Service Commission, which then conducted a background check of the applicants. The information was actually gathered for the commission by Vollmer, who was assigned to that duty by the sheriff. He delivered his investigation notes to the commission's secretary, who typed them and distributed them to the commissioners. Feeney was granted a personal interview with the commission but failed to make the list of the top ten candidates which the commission certified to the sheriff. He later filed suit against Scott County and the City of Davenport claiming dissemination of information from the files of the police department to the commission was proscribed by section 692.3. He prayed for $60,000 actual and $100,000 punitive damages. The trial court found that there were two violations of the act but, because it found no actual damages were proved, awarded only $500 damages based upon section 692.6 (which provides for a minimum allowance of $100.00) and declined to award any exemplary damages. Statutory attorney's fees in the amount of $500 were awarded.

The disseminated information was entered on a 3 X 5 index card identifying Feeney, and stating:

4-23-73 Report of abv's (Feeney's) name given ref. poss. selling drugs (D-53-418A)

This card referred to supplemental reports also on file at the police department which showed that an anonymous telephone call had been received at the Davenport Park Board Office to the effect that on a shelter door at one of the parks there was a list of drugs with prices and instructions to "Call Bob 323-4307." The police report further said "(a) check in the city directory showed this number listed to W. D. Feeney. Checked OCU files and could not find anybody by this name in our files. . . . We tried calling the number with negative results. We will continue to call until we get a response." No further developments in the drug matter were shown by the records, and no evidence showed any involvement by Feeney in drug trafficking or use.

At the time of the personal interview of Feeney, one of the commissioners asked him about the matter. Because Feeney became upset by the question, Commissioner Porter agreed to check into it further. He later accompanied Sgt. Vollmer on a return trip to the police department where Vollmer was again shown the information. It was also shown to Porter at that time. Porter decided there was no factual basis for concluding that Feeney was involved in any drug dealing and indicated this on his application record.

This action was tried to the court at law, and the court's findings of fact are therefore binding upon us if supported by substantial evidence. Iowa R.App.P. 14(f)(1). The operative facts are largely undisputed; our disagreement with the trial court resolution of the dispute is based upon our interpretation of chapter 692.

I. Alleged Violations. Chapter 692 deals with the maintenance and dissemination of criminal agency data. It divides data into three categories. Section 692.1 provides, in part:

3. "Criminal history data" means any or all of the following information maintained by the department or bureau in a manual or automated data storage system and individually identified:

a. Arrest data.

b. Conviction data.

c. Disposition data.

d. Correctional data.

11. "Intelligence data" means information collected where there are reasonable grounds to suspect involvement or participation in criminal activity by any person.

12. "Surveillance data" means information on individuals pertaining to participation in organizations, groups, meetings or assemblies, where there are not reasonable grounds to suspect involvement or participation in criminal activity by any person.

Because there was no arrest or other proceedings as required by section 692.1(3), the information as to Feeney is clearly not "criminal history data." Nor is it "surveillance data" because there is no "participation in organizations, groups, meetings or assemblies" shown. It seems clear, therefore, that if the data here falls into any of the categories set out in section 692.1, it is "intelligence data." This was also the conclusion of the trial court. Categorization of the data is important because the duties and restrictions imposed by the act turn to some extent on the type of data involved.

Dissemination limitations of the statute also vary according to whether the organization in possession of the data is "the department" (department of public safety, § 692.1(1)) or "bureau" (division of criminal investigation and bureau of identification, § 692.1(2)) or some other criminal justice agency. " 'Criminal justice agency ' means any agency or department of any level of government which performs as its principal function the apprehension, prosecution, adjudication, incarceration, or rehabilitation of criminal offenders." § 692.1(10).

Restrictions on dissemination by peace officers, criminal justice agencies and state or federal regulatory agencies are set out in section 692.3. That section first deals with dissemination of criminal history data (not pertinent here except for purposes of comparison) as follows:

A peace officer, criminal justice agency, or state or federal regulatory agency shall not redisseminate criminal history data, within or without the agency, received from the department or bureau, unless:

1. The data is for official purposes in connection with prescribed duties of a criminal justice agency, and

2. The agency maintains a list of the persons receiving the data and the date and purpose of the dissemination, and

3. The request for data is based upon name, fingerprints, or other individual identification characteristics. (Emphasis added.)

That section then limits redissemination of intelligence data as follows:

A peace officer, criminal justice agency, or state or federal regulatory agency shall not redisseminate intelligence data, within or without the agency, received from the department or bureau or from any other source, except as provided in subsections 1 and 2. (Emphasis added.)

Thus, dissemination of criminal history data is restricted only if it was originally "received from the department or bureau." By contrast, dissemination of intelligence data is restricted regardless of the source.

In this case, therefore, the propriety of dissemination of intelligence data, governed by the last paragraph of section 692.3, depends on (1) its being "for official purposes in connection with prescribed duties of a criminal justice agency," and (2) "(t)he agency maintain(ing) a list of the persons receiving the data and the purpose of the dissemination . l. . ." § 692.3.

The appellant argues that twelve violations are shown. In support of that argument, he cites section 692.6:

Any person may institute a civil action for damages under chapters 25A or 613A or to restrain the dissemination of his criminal history data or intelligence data in violation of this chapter, and any person, agency or governmental body proven to have disseminated or to have requested and received criminal history data or intelligence data in violation of this chapter shall be liable for actual damages and exemplary damages for each violation and shall be liable for court costs, expenses and reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the party bringing the action. In no case shall the award for damages be less than one hundred dollars. (Emphasis added.)

Feeney argues that the evidence establishes five request violations (three from the commissioners to Sgt. Vollmer and one each from Vollmer and Porter to the records custodian) and seven dissemination violations (two from the records custodian to Vollmer (once on each visit), one by the custodian to Porter and four from Vollmer to the three commissioners and their secretary).

The trial court found that there were two violations of chapter 692. It found that the failure of the Davenport Police Department to maintain a list of their disseminations...