Houghton v. Franscell
| Decision Date | 14 March 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-142,93-142 |
| Citation | 870 P.2d 1050 |
| Parties | 22 Media L. Rep. 1782 Jack F. HOUGHTON, in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of Campbell County Hospital District, doing business as Campbell County Memorial Hospital and Campbell County Hospital District, Appellants (Defendants), v. Ronald FRANSCELL and News-Record, Inc., d/b/a The Gillette News-Record, Appellees (Plaintiffs). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Thomas E. Lubnau II and Daniel B. Bailey, Lubnau and Bailey, Gillette, for appellants.
Michael J. Krampner, Casper, for appellees.
Richard Rideout, Herschler, Freudenthal, Salzburg, Bonds & Rideout, P.C., Cheyenne, amici curiae, for Campbell County Med. Soc.
Before MACY, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, GOLDEN and TAYLOR, JJ.
This appeal concerns the interpretation of WYO.STAT. § 16-4-203(d)(vii) (1990) which withdraws from public inspection "[h]ospital records relating to medical administration, medical staff, personnel, medical care and other medical information, whether on individual persons or groups, or whether of a general or specific classification." At issue is a so-called physician recruitment contract between the hospital district, through its governing board, and a private health care provider, which contains information of the financial inducements paid by the district to the health care provider to induce the latter to relocate to the district's geographical area. We must decide whether such a contract is a hospital record exempt from public inspection under WYO.STAT. § 16-4-203(d).
The district court held as a matter of law that physician recruitment contracts are not included within those exempt hospital records and ordered disclosure of the contracts. We affirm.
Appellant Campbell County Hospital District presents the following issue for review:
Does the exception to the Wyoming Public Records Act contained in Wyoming Appellee, the Gillette News-Record, rephrases the issue as:
Statute § 16-4-203(d)(vii) include physician recruitment contracts?
Are contracts guaranteeing a minimum income, as well as other financial incentives, between a public hospital district and a doctor, exempt from disclosure under Wyoming Public Records Act Section 16-4-203(d)(vii)?
On October 22, 1992, appellee Gillette News-Record requested from appellant Campbell County Hospital District access to any and all records concerning guarantees of income made to physicians locating in Gillette, specifically the physician recruitment contract entered into with Dr. Michael Darnell. The parties agree that the pertinent information sought, in the form of the physician recruitment contract, includes guarantees of income and other financial benefits to specific physicians and the physicians' obligations in return. The hospital district refused to disclose the records, contending the physician recruitment contracts were hospital records exempt from disclosure under WYO.STAT. § 16-4-203(d)(vii).
Appellee filed a Petition and Complaint for Access to Records in district court on January 25, 1993. Trial was held on April 14, 1993, and the district court entered its judgment and order on April 22, 1993. The district court held the physician recruitment contract did not constitute a hospital record exempt from disclosure under WYO.STAT. § 16-4-203(d)(vii) and ordered the hospital district to disclose the contract to appellee. This appeal followed.
The Wyoming Public Records Act, WYO.STAT. § 16-4-201 et seq. (1990), permits any person to access public records. WYO.STAT. § 16-4-202(a) provides in part: "All public records shall be open for inspection by any person at reasonable times, except as provided in this act or as otherwise provided by law * * *."
The object of the public records act is disclosure, not secrecy, and we therefore interpret the act liberally in favor of disclosure, construing all exemptions narrowly. Sheridan Newspapers, Inc. v. City of Sheridan, 660 P.2d 785, 793, 794 (Wyo.1983); and Laramie River Conservation Council v. Dinger, 567 P.2d 731, 733 (Wyo.1977). Legislation requiring disclosure of information is considered remedial, and
[r]emedial statutes are liberally construed to suppress the evil and advance the remedy. The policy that a remedial statute should be liberally construed in order to effectuate the remedial purpose for which it was enacted is firmly established.
NORMAN J. SINGER, 3 SUTHERLAND STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION § 60.01 at 147 (5th Ed.1992). See also, Heltzel v. Thomas, 516 N.E.2d 103, 106 (Ind.App.1987). The remedial purpose of the public records act is to permit access to public records unless disclosure would inflict irreparable harm contrary to protected rights.
The courts, legislature, administrative agencies, and the state, county and municipal governments should be ever mindful that theirs is public business and the public has a right to know how its servants are conducting its business. * * * The citizenry must be permitted to hear and see what public officers and their employees say and do whenever the imparting of this knowledge does not run contrary to the rights of those otherwise protected in a way that would result in disclosure having the effect of inflicting such irreparable harm as is recognized at law.
Sheridan Newspapers, 660 P.2d at 791.
Maintaining an open and accountable government is particularly important with respect to the expenditure of public funds. Record-Times v. Town of Wheatland, Etc., 650 P.2d 297, 300 (Wyo.1982). "Where a public interest is affected, an interpretation is preferred which favors the public." NORMAN J. SINGER, 2B SUTHERLAND STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION § 56.01 at 303 (5th Ed.1992). In this instance, the public interest affected [T]he language of the statute imposes a legislative presumption which says that, where public records are involved, the denial of inspection is contrary to the public policy, the public interest and the competing interests of those involved.
is the public's right to access information concerning the expenditure of public funds to enhance the quality of a community's health care. In Sheridan Newspapers this court confirmed the public's interest in disclosure and the presumption favoring that interest.
Sheridan Newspapers, 660 P.2d at 796.
This court has also recognized that the freedom-of-the-press and due process provisions of the Federal and Wyoming constitutions guarantee a person's right to access public records, and absent a compelling state interest, the state may not exclude an entire class of records from public inspection. Sheridan Newspapers, 660 P.2d at 794 . See also Record-Times, 650 P.2d at 301 n. 4 (citing Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court for the County of Norfolk, 449 U.S. 894, 101 S.Ct. 259, 66 L.Ed.2d 124 (1980); Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. 368, 99 S.Ct. 2898, 61 L.Ed.2d 608 (1979)). We stated in Sheridan Newspapers that
[t]he legislature does indeed have authority to promulgate and has imposed such statutory restraints upon the news-gathering business as will best serve the public good. These restraints may not, however, unlawfully deny the people's right to be kept informed. A restriction having this effect would run the risk of a First or Fourteenth Amendment violation.
Sheridan Newspapers, 660 P.2d at 795.
It is in light of the legislative presumption of openness, and in keeping with the constitutional right of access to public records that we interpret the exemption to disclosure provided by WYO.STAT. § 16-4-203(d)(vii).
WYO.STAT. § 16-4-203 exempts certain records from disclosure under the act. This appeal requires that we interpret the exemption found at WYO.STAT. § 16-4-203(d)(vii). That provision reads:
(d) The custodian shall deny the right of inspection of the following records, unless otherwise provided by law:
(vii) Hospital records relating to medical administration, medical staff, personnel, medical care and other medical information, whether on individual persons or groups, or whether of a general or specific classification.
This court has stated that "the initial step in arriving at a correct interpretation * * * is an inquiry respecting the ordinary and obvious meaning of the words employed according to their arrangement and connection." Parker Land & Cattle Co. v. Wyoming Game & Fish Comm'n, 845 P.2d 1040, 1042 (Wyo.1993) (quoting Rasmussen v. Baker, 7 Wyo. 117, 133, 50 P. 819, 823 (1897)). A statute "must be construed as a whole in order to ascertain its intent and general purpose and also the meaning of each part." Parker, 845 P.2d at 1042 (quoting Ross v. Trustees of Univ. of Wyoming, 31 Wyo. 464, 489, 228 P. 642, 651 (1924)). This court gives effect to every word, clause and sentence, construing all components of a statute in pari materia. Parker, 845 P.2d at 1042. We presume that the legislature enacts statutes "with full knowledge of the existing condition of the law and with reference to it." Parker, 845 P.2d at 1044 (quoting Civic Ass'n of Wyoming v. Railway Motor Fuels, 57 Wyo. 213, 238, 116 P.2d 236, 245 (1941)).
When we interpret a statute, reading it as a whole, we must determine whether the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous. A "statute is unambiguous if its wording is such that reasonable persons are able to agree as to its meaning with consistence and predictability." Parker, 845 P.2d at 1043 (quoting Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Wyoming State Bd. of Equalization, 813 P.2d 214, 219 (Wyo.1991)). A statute is ambiguous if "its meaning is uncertain, doubtful, or if a single If the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous, we apply its plain meaning and need not consult the numerous rules of statutory construction. W.A.R.M. v. Bonds, 866 P.2d...
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