Hobbs v. State
| Decision Date | 07 October 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 44284–1–II.,44284–1–II. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Mike HOBBS, Appellant, v. STATE of Washington, Washington State Auditor's Office, a Washington State Agency, Respondent. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Affirmed. Christopher William Bawn, Attorney at Law, Olympia, WA, for Appellant.
Jean Marie Wilkinson, Attorney Generals Office, Linda Anne Dalton, Atty General's Ofc Govt & Enforcement, Olympia, WA, for Respondent.
¶ 1 Mike Hobbs appeals the superior court's order dismissing his Public Records Act (PRA) 1 claim against the State Auditor's Office (Auditor). Hobbs argues that the superior court erred in concluding that the Auditor cannot be liable for potential errors while a PRA request is still pending, the Auditor's initial response letter was adequate, and the scope of the Auditor's search was reasonable. Because we hold the superior court did not err, we affirm.
¶ 2 On November 28, 2011, attorney Christopher W. Bawn filed a PRA request to the Auditor on behalf of his client Mike Hobbs. The request was for public records related to the Auditor's investigation of a whistleblower complaint regarding the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the use of “SSI 2 Dedicated Accounts” for foster children. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 105. The request included a large amount of technical information related to the records and record retention. Mary Leider, the Auditor's public records officer, received the request.
¶ 3 On December 2, 2011, Leider sent Hobbs a response letter stating, “As we understand the subject matter of your request, you are requesting all records related to investigations of DSHS that pertain specifically to SSI Dedicated Accounts.” CP at 108. The letter informed Hobbs that the records would be provided in installments and that the Auditor expected the first installment to be available for inspection, by appointment, anytime after December 16. The letter also stated that DSHS client records would be sent first to DSHS to ensure all the appropriate redactions were made to protect the foster children's privacy.
¶ 4 Leider was unable to contact Hobbs' attorney by phone or email to arrange for the inspection of documents; so on December 21, the Auditor made the first installment of records available to Hobbs electronically. As discussed in more detail below, Hobbs responded to this first installment by filing suit against the Auditor for alleged PRA violations.3
¶ 5 On December 30, the Auditor provided Hobbs with a new copy of the documents, using code numbers the Auditor created to correspond to explanations of the redactions. Leider also informed Hobbs that the next installment of records would be ready on January 13, 2012.
¶ 6 On January 6, 2012, the Auditor's counsel sent Hobbs a letter confirming his requested prioritization of his three pending records requests (two of which are not the subject of this appeal). and stating,
In our conversation, I requested that you contact me if you believe the Auditor has made a mistake in processing your public records requests. The Auditor wants to hear from you if you think there are problems, so the Auditor may address your concerns promptly if it is possible to do so. This request for cooperation from you pertains to any concerns you may have about redactions, validity or explanation of claimed exemptions, or other concerns. For example, you mentioned that the Auditor's public records officer provided you with an updated version of the first installment of its response to your November 28, 2011 request, and that this update was provided promptly. This approach avoids unnecessary use of the court's time and resources.
CP at 121–22. Also on January 6, Leider sent Hobbs an e-mail informing him that the final installment of records would be ready on February 13.
¶ 7 On January 19, Leider contacted Hobbs to inform him of some technical issues that had arisen in providing e-mails containing metadata. After consulting with Pete Donnell, audit manager for the statewide technology audit team, the Auditor developed a method to provide the documents in the format that Hobbs had requested. Leider informed Hobbs that she would prepare five e-mails, send them to Hobbs to confirm they were in an acceptable format, and then process the remaining 88 e-mails. After confirming the e-mails were in a format acceptable to Hobbs, Leider told Hobbs the remaining 88 e-mails would be ready on March 1.
¶ 8 On February 13, Leider sent Hobbs the first 1,010 pages of the foster child records redacted by DSHS. On February 14, Leider provided Hobbs with another updated copy of the December 30, 2011 production addressing additional concerns Hobbs attorney had raised. On February 16, Leider provided the remaining 1,010 pages of foster child records redacted by DSHS. On February 17, Leider sent Hobbs an e-mail stating that she had identified technical issues with some of the files and sent Hobbs another copy of the DSHS records with corrections to resolve the technical issues.
¶ 9 On February 27, Leider sent Hobbs another e-mail stating that she had reviewed a declaration he had submitted to the court complaining about technical issues involving the metadata of the 17 different versions of the Auditor's whistleblower investigation closure letter. Leider stated that she had consulted with Donnell, corrected the problem, and was providing new versions of the letter with the metadata issues resolved.
¶ 10 On March 1, Leider provided Hobbs with the additional e-mails that Leider had contacted Hobbs about on January 19. She also sent Hobbs an e-mail stating that the Auditor believed it had provided all the responsive documents to Hobbs' public records request, and that Hobbs should contact her with any concerns he may have.
¶ 11 On March 29, Leider sent Hobbs an e-mail in which she noted that Hobbs had not downloaded the final installment of the records from March 1 and that the link to the “Secure File Transfer System” had expired. CP at 302. She notified Hobbs that she was reposting a new transfer link so that he would be able to access the installment.
¶ 12 Meanwhile, on December 23, 2011, almost immediately after the Auditor had provided the first installment of documents in response to Hobbs' public records request, Hobbs filed suit against the Auditor for alleged PRA violations, primarily complaining about redactions to the records produced in the December 21, 2011 first installment. On January 20, 2012, Hobbs filed a motion requesting in camera review of the Auditor's December 21 and December 30 4 installments of produced records. The superior court heard the motion on February 14 and reviewed both the December 21 and December 30 productions in camera. On February 15, the superior court ruled that exemption codes the Auditor had used complied with the PRA requirements.
¶ 13 On February 17, based on the superior court's ruling after the in camera review, the Auditor filed a motion seeking a ruling that (1) “the redactions contained in the Auditor's December 30, 2011 production, as supplemented by the 5 pages of updated redactions provided to the requester on February 14, 2012, [were] proper”; and (2) Hobbs had no cause of action with respect to the December 21, December 30, and February 14 installments because the Auditor was still in the process of responding to Hobbs' public records request and, thus, had not denied Hobbs any records. CP at 143. On March 30, the superior court ruled that the redactions made in the December 30 installment, as updated in the February 14 installment, complied with the PRA. And, the superior court ruled that Hobbs did not have a cause of action as to the December 21, December 30, and February 14 installments.
¶ 14 A final hearing on Hobbs' suit against the Auditor was held on August 17, 2012, after the Auditor's final installment of Hobbs' public records request. Hobbs raised numerous issues, including that (1) the Auditor's response letter on December 2, 2011 violated the PRA because it did not contain a date for when the response to his request would be completed; (2) the initial copies of the letter closing the whistleblower investigation (the December 21 installment) were disclosed with improper metadata; (3) the investigator originally assigned to the case did not properly search her electronic case file, and thus, certain records were not disclosed; (4) the Auditor improperly interpreted Hobbs' public records request and did not include documents such as file folder tabs and documents recovered from disaster recovery tapes; and (5) the first installment of records was improperly redacted.5
¶ 15 The Auditor submitted numerous declarations from employees who had worked on compiling the responses to Hobbs' public records request. Leider submitted an affidavit comprehensively explaining the entire process of responding to Hobbs' public records request. Kim Hurley, the special investigations manager, declared that she had compiled numerous search terms and used those terms to search “the Auditor's Sharepoint program for documents related to Whistleblower case 10–005, my individual Outlook mailboxes, Teammate, and my Auditor network folder.” CP at 246. She had also searched the Auditor's “evault,” which stores all Auditor employee e-mails in a place where employees cannot delete them. CP at 246.
¶ 16 Julie Cooper, the special investigations coordinator, declared that she had searched her own e-mail box and two other employees' e-mail boxes for responsive e-mails and documents. She had also searched the “evault” to ensure all responsive e-mails were disclosed to Leider. CP at 243. Jan Jutte, the director of legal affairs, declared that she had worked with Leider on compiling the response to Hobbs' public records request, which work had included numerous discussions and meetings to plan and coordinate...
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