Galvin v. Freedom of Information Com'n, 2979

• Decision Date: 09 July 1985
• Docket Number: No. 2979,2979
• Citation: 495 A.2d 1089,4 Conn.App. 468
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: , 11 Media L. Rep. 2300 Catherine A. GALVIN v. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION et al.

Page 1089

495 A.2d 1089

4 Conn.App. 468, 11 Media L. Rep. 2300

Catherine A. GALVIN v. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION et al.

No. 2979.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 12, 1985.

Decided July 9, 1985.

Steven Spellman, for appellants (defendant David W. Schoolcraft et al.).

Jane S. Scholl, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom, on the brief, were Joseph I. Lieberman, Atty. Gen., and Richard L. Lynch, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee (plaintiff).

Constance L. Chambers, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Meriden, for the Freedom of Information Com'n, filed a brief as amicus curiae.

Before DUPONT, C.P.J., and HULL and BORDEN, JJ.

DUPONT, Chief Presiding Judge.

The principal issue to be decided in this case is whether an autopsy report prepared by the office of the chief medical examiner is subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (hereinafter FOIA). ¹ This case arose from a request by a newspaper reporter for access to an autopsy report. The subject of the report was the victim of a shooting incident between him and a police officer. Access to the autopsy report was denied by the chief medical examiner. At the time of the request, the autopsy was not completed. The newspaper and the reporter appealed the denial of access to the freedom of information commission (hereinafter FOIC).

After a hearing on the matter was conducted, the hearing officer issued a report, proposing that the office of the medical examiner provide a copy of the autopsy report to the newspaper and the reporter. The FOIC adopted that recommendation and the plaintiff chief medical examiner appealed pursuant to General Statutes §§ 1-21i(d) and 4-183, and also obtained a stay of the FOIC's order. Her appeal to the Superior Court was successful and the defendants, Norwich Bulletin Company and David A. Schoolcraft, (hereinafter defendants) appealed to this court. ²

The chief medical examiner claimed, and continues to claim, that the prefatory clause of General Statutes § 1-19(a) ³ read in conjunction with General Statutes § 19a-411 ⁴ and the regulations promulgated thereunder ⁵ exempts the autopsy report from disclosure, and that the autopsy report is, in addition, exempted from disclosure under either § 1-19(b)(1), § 1-19(b)(2), or § 1-19(b)(3). ⁶ The trial court decided that the report was not exempt from disclosure under the exemptions claimed applicable in § 1-19(b), but that the report was exempt under the prefatory clause of § 1-19(a).

The defendants, on appeal, claim that the trial court erred in concluding (1) that the chief medical examiner was an aggrieved party, (2) that the prefatory clause of § 1-19(a) exempted the autopsy report from the disclosure provisions of the FOIA, and (3) that the FOIC committed errors in law or findings and entered orders which were erroneous, in light of the evidence adduced at the administrative hearing.

The defendants' argument that the trial court erred in finding that the chief medical examiner was an aggrieved party must first be resolved. The office of the chief medical examiner functions under the direction of the commission on medicolegal investigations. General Statutes § 19a-403. The regulations pertaining to access to the records of the office of the chief medical examiner provide that all requests for such records be addressed to the chief medical examiner. Regs., Conn. State Agencies § 19-525-10(c).

General Statutes § 19a-406 describes the powers and duties of the chief medical examiner. The FOIC's order in this case is directed to the chief medical examiner. By implication, the head of an administrative agency to whom an FOIC's disclosure order is directed, is an aggrieved party. Maher v. Freedom of Information Commission, 192 Conn. 310, 472 A.2d 321 (1984). Therefore, the trial court did not err in concluding that the chief medical examiner was an aggrieved party.

The defendants argue that the autopsy report was not exempt under the prefatory clause of § 1-19(a), and, therefore, the trial court erred in failing to disclose it. They mount a two-fold challenge to the trial court's conclusion, asserting that General Statutes § 19a-411 does not provide the commission on medicolegal investigations with authority to promulgate regulations which override the expressed legislative intent of disclosing a public agency's records embodied in General Statutes § 1-19. Alternatively, they argue that any such authority pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1981) § 19-535, the predecessor of General Statutes § 19a-411, was repealed by implication upon the enactment of Public Acts 1975, No. 75-342.

In order to place the defendants' claims in perspective, it is appropriate to look at the legislative history of General Statutes § 19a-411. The office of the chief medical examiner was established in 1969 and, at that time, the predecessor of what is now General Statutes § 19a-411, which involves the records of the chief medical examiner and their disclosure, was enacted. Public Acts 1969, No. 699. Section 12 of that act became General Statutes (Rev. to 1981) § 19-535, and provided: "The office of medicolegal investigations shall keep full and complete records properly indexed, giving the name, if known, of every person whose death is investigated, the place where the body was found, the date, cause and manner of death, and all other relevant information concerning the death, and a copy of the death certificate. The full report and detailed findings of the autopsy and toxicological and other scientific investigation, if any, shall be a part of the record in each case. The office shall promptly notify of such death and deliver to the state's attorney and the coroner having jurisdiction over the case copies of all pertinent records relating to every death as to which further investigation may be advisable. Any state's attorney, coroner, chief of police or other law enforcement official may, upon request, secure copies of such records or other information deemed necessary by him to the performance of his official duties. Any person may obtain copies of such records upon such conditions and payment of such fees as may be prescribed by the commission, provided no person with a legitimate interest therein shall be denied access to such records. Upon application by the chief medical examiner or state's attorney to the superior court for the county in which the death occurred, or to any judge of the superior court in such county when said court is not then sitting, said court or such judge may limit such disclosure to the extent that there is a showing by the chief medical examiner or state's attorney of compelling public interest against disclosure of any particular document or documents. In the discretion of the commission, public authorities, professional, medical, legal or scientific bodies or universities or similar research bodies may have access to all records upon such conditions and payment of such fees as may be prescribed by the commission. Where such information is made available for scientific or research purposes, such conditions shall include a requirement that the identity of the deceased persons shall remain confidential and shall not be published."

That statute, fairly read, provided the commission on medicolegal investigations with authority to withhold these records from disclosure to the general public. The statute provided that "no person with a legitimate interest therein shall be denied access to such records." By implication, one can infer that the commission, in prescribing the conditions for access to such records, could deny access to those records to those not having a legitimate interest. The cross-reference to General Statutes § 1-19 was added in 1971. Public Acts 1971, No. 412, § 6.

General Statutes (Rev. to 1981) § 19-535 was thereby amended by replacing the phrase "medicolegal investigations" with "the medical examiner" and by inserting the following sentence: "The report of examinations conducted by the chief medical examiner, deputy medical examiner or an authorized assistant medical examiner, and of the autopsy and other scientific findings may be made available to the public only through the office of the medical examiner and in accordance with the regulations of the commission and of section 1-19."

The sentence was added to provide that records in cases investigated by the medical examiner were only available to the public through the office of the medical examiner. See remarks of Senator Jay W. Jackson, 14 S. Proc., Pt. 4, 1971 Sess., pp. 1696-97, and the remarks of Representative James F. Bingham, 14 H.R.Proc ., Pt. 7, 1971 Sess., p. 3085. The amendment was not intended to strip the commission of its authority to prescribe the conditions and the fees for copies of the office of the chief medical examiner's records. At the time, General Statutes § 1-19(a) exempted from disclosure, records so exempted by administrative regulations.

The language of General Statutes § 19a-411 evinces a legislative intent that the commission would have the authority to regulate the disclosure of its records to the general public.

Regulations adopted by the commission on medicolegal investigations concerning access to the records of the chief medical examiner's office have the force of a statute. Pecker v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 171 Conn. 443, 449, 370 A.2d 1006 (1976); Fusco-Amatruda Co. v. Tax Commissioner, 168 Conn. 597, 604, 362 A.2d 847 (1975); Citerella v. United Illuminating Co., 158 Conn. 600, 608, 266 A.2d 382 (1969). It is therefore concluded that until 1975 the commission had the authority to promulgate regulations restricting access to the records of the office of the chief medical examiner.

The defendants argue that any authority to restrict access to the records of the chief medical examiner's office given to the commission on medicolegal investigations by promulgating regulations pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1981) § 19-535 was...