Gendler v. Batiste

• Decision Date: 12 April 2012
• Docket Number: No. 85408–4.,85408–4.
• Citation: 274 P.3d 346
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: Michael W. GENDLER, Respondent, v. John R. BATISTE, Washington State Patrol Chief, Petitioner.

274 P.3d 346

Michael W. GENDLER, Respondent,

v.John R. BATISTE, Washington State Patrol Chief, Petitioner.

No. 85408–4.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued Oct. 11, 2011.Decided April 12, 2012.

Rene David Tomisser, Office of the Attorney General, Olympia, WA, for Petitioner.

Keith Leon Kessler, Garth L. Jones, Stritmatter Kessler Whelan Coluccio, Hoquiam, WA, Kenneth Wendell Masters, Shelby R. Frost Lemmel, Masters Law Group PLLC, Bainbridge Island, WA, for Respondent.

Kathrine George, Harrison Benis & Spence LLP, Seattle, WA, amicus counsel for Allied Daily Newspaper of Washi. and Washington Newspaper Publishers.Michael E. Tardif, Friemund Jackson Tardif & Benedict Garra, Olympia, WA, amicus counsel for Washington Cities Insurance Auth. and Washington Countries Risk Pool.Bryan Patrick Harnetiaux, Spokane, WA, George M. Ahrend, Ahrend Law Firm PLLC, Moses Lake, WA, amicus counsel for Washington State Association for.FAIRHURST, J.

¶ 1 This case involves the Public Records Act (PRA), chapter 42.56 RCW, and its interplay with two statutes, RCW 46.52.060 and 23 U.S.C. § 409. Michael W. Gendler made a public records request for location-specific accident reports from the Washington State Patrol (WSP). The WSP refused to provide the records unless Gendler certified that he would not use the records in any litigation against the State, claiming a federal statute, 23 U.S.C. § 409, protected the records sought. WSP claimed the records were shielded because they were located in an electronic database that the Department of Transportation (DOT) utilized for purposes related to the federal hazard elimination program, 23 U.S.C. § 152.

¶ 2 Gendler then brought a suit under the PRA and argued § 409 does not apply to the WSP because it did not compile or collect the information for § 152 purposes. Rather, the information was collected pursuant to WSP's statutory duty under RCW 46.52.060. The trial court agreed and, on summary judgment, ordered WSP to produce the requested accident reports. The Court of Appeals affirmed. We also affirm because § 409 does not extend to police accident reports generated and received by WSP pursuant to its own statutory duty.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3 Gendler was riding his bicycle across Seattle's Montlake Bridge when his front wheel was suddenly trapped in a seam on the bridge deck grating. Gendler was thrown forward onto the roadway, seriously injuring his spine and rendering him quadriplegic. As a result, he is no longer able to work full time in his law practice or live independently.

¶ 4 Gendler subsequently learned that other bicyclists had been injured after their bicycle wheels were jammed in the same manner on the same bridge. Alarmed by these facts, Gendler sought out the history of such incidents by making a public records request to the WSP. Specifically, he requested copies of police reports on all accidents on the Montlake Bridge involving bicycles.

¶ 5 The WSP responded that it could not provide accident reports by location and that it would provide records to Gendler only if he were able to specifically identify the person involved in the collision and the precise collision date. Gendler was also informed that only the DOT was able to produce a historic list of traffic accidents based on physical location and referred to a “Request for Collision Data” form that would be necessary before the State would fulfill his request.¹ Clerk's Papers (CP) at 27.

¶ 6 After locating the form, Gendler discovered it required a certification that he would not use the records in a lawsuit against the State or other government agency. The exact language from the request form reads, “I hereby affirm that I am not requesting this collision data for use in any current, pending or anticipated litigation against a state, tribal or local government involving a collision at the location(s) mentioned in the data.” Id. This certification is purported to be in accordance with 23 U.S.C. § 409, a limited federal privilege that protects from discovery certain records that the states create and compile for federal highway safety reporting purposes. Gendler was unwilling to submit this certification, explaining:

Because I do not want to waive my right to use public records including reports of bicycle accidents on the Montlake Bridge in a civil lawsuit to hold the State accountable for its negligence, I cannot sign the public record request form. But I also do not want to waive my right as a citizen to have access to these public records to promote my ability to become fully informed about the history of this bridge and about the conduct of the governmental agency or agencies responsible for providing a reasonably safe road.

CP at 24. The State refused to provide the records because Gendler would not sign the form.

¶ 7 Consequently, Gendler filed a complaint against John Batiste, chief of the WSP, in Thurston County Superior Court for violation of the PRA. WSP asserted that the requested records had been scanned and entered into a database created and compiled for federal highway safety reporting purposes and were therefore protected under 23 U.S.C. § 409. The trial court allowed the DOT to intervene, granting it party status as a codefendant because it collected, analyzed, and maintained the records sought and because WSP claimed only the DOT could produce them.

¶ 8 Both sides moved for summary judgment on the sole issue of WSP's legal obligation to provide the reports requested by Gendler. After hearing argument, the trial court issued a memorandum decision concluding that state troopers completed accident reports pursuant to their duty under RCW 46.52.060 to file, analyze, and publish statistical information about accidents. The trial court further reasoned that 23 U.S.C. § 409 did not protect these reports because they were completed for purposes unrelated to federal highway safety funding obligations. Accordingly, the trial court granted summary judgment to Gendler and ordered WSP to produce the public records.²

¶ 9 The Court of Appeals affirmed. Gendler v. Batiste, 158 Wash.App. 661, 242 P.3d 947 (2010). We granted the State's petition for review, Gendler v. Batiste, 171 Wash.2d 1001, 249 P.3d 181 (2011), and now affirm.

II. ISSUE

¶ 10 Where the WSP has a statutory duty to file, tabulate, and analyze accident reports under RCW 46.52.060, does 23 U.S.C. § 409 protect the WSP against unconditional disclosure of those reports under the PRA because the data is also collected or compiled by the DOT pursuant to the federal hazard elimination program, 23 U.S.C. § 152?

III. ANALYSIS

¶ 11 Resolution of this case requires analysis of the interplay between three primary statutes: (1) The PRA, chapter 42.56 RCW; (2) RCW 46.52. 060 (WSP's duty); and (3) 23 U.S.C. § 409 (limited federal privilege). The PRA requires the WSP to disclose all public records upon request, including data from accident reports collected pursuant to its statutory duty. We hold § 409 is inapplicable to the WSP in this context because WSP collected and compiled the reports pursuant to RCW 46.52.060, and not for a § 152 purpose.

A. PRA

¶ 12 The PRA requires state and local agencies to disclose all public records upon request, unless the record falls within a PRA exemption or other statutory exemption. RCW 42.56.070(1); Progressive Animal Welfare Soc'y v. Univ. of Wash., 125 Wash.2d 243, 250, 884 P.2d 592 (1994) ( PAWS). We review agency actions taken or challenged under the PRA de novo. RCW 42.56.550(3); Spokane Police Guild v. Wash. State Liquor Control Bd., 112 Wash.2d 30, 34–35, 769 P.2d 283 (1989).

¶ 13 The PRA is regularly referred to as “a strongly worded mandate for broad disclosure of public records.” Hearst Corp. v. Hoppe, 90 Wash.2d 123, 127, 580 P.2d 246 (1978); Yakima v. Yakima Herald–Republic, 170 Wash.2d 775, 790, 246 P.3d 768 (2011). Its underlying policy is evidenced by RCW 42.56.030:

The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created.

This court has also stated that the PRA's intent is

nothing less than the preservation of the most central tenets of representative government, namely, the sovereignty of the people and the accountability to the people of public officials and institutions. [Former] RCW 42.17.251 [ (1992), recodified as RCW 42.56.030]. Without tools such as the Public Records Act, government of the people, by the people, for the people, risks becoming government of the people, by the bureaucrats, for the special interests. In the famous words of James Madison, “A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.” Letter to W.T. Barry, Aug. 4, 1822, 9 The Writings of James Madison 103 (Gaillard Hunt, ed. 1910).

PAWS, 125 Wash.2d at 251, 884 P.2d 592.

¶ 14 In order to promote this policy and protect the public interest, the PRA is to be “liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly construed.” RCW 42.56.030. Courts are also required to “take into account the policy ... that free and open examination of public records is in the public interest, even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public officials or others.” RCW 42.56.550(3).

¶ 15 “ ‘Public record’ ” is defined broadly to include “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of government or the performance of any governmental or proprietary function prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics.” Former RCW 42.17.020(42) (2008). It has long been recognized that administrative inconvenience or difficulty does...