In the Matter of Humane Society v. Fanslau, No. 504176
| Court | New York Supreme Court Appellate Division |
| Citation | 54 A.D.3d 537,2008 NY Slip Op 6681,863 N.Y.S.2d 519 |
| Decision Date | 28 August 2008 |
| Parties | In the Matter of HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES, Appellant, v. DAVID FANSLAU, as Sullivan County Manager, et al., Respondents. |
| Docket Number | No. 504176 |
v.
DAVID FANSLAU, as Sullivan County Manager, et al., Respondents.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Sackett, J.), entered March 1, 2007 in Sullivan County, which dismissed petitioner's application, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, to review a determination of respondent Samuel Yasgur partially denying petitioner's Freedom of Information Law request.
Malone Jr., J.
Petitioner commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding challenging a Freedom of Information Law (see Public Officers Law art 6 [hereinafter FOIL] determination of respondent Samuel Yasgur, the Sullivan County Attorney, finding that certain financial disclosure statements of respondent Stephen Lungen, the Sullivan County District Attorney, were appropriately redacted prior to petitioner's inspection and that petitioner was not entitled to photocopy such documents. Supreme Court adopted the findings of a Hearing Officer that the redactions
were proper and that petitioner was not improperly denied the right to copy the records, among other things, and dismissed the petition. This appeal ensued.
Pursuant to FOIL, there is a presumption that all government and agency records are open for public inspection unless the agency seeking to prevent disclosure demonstrates "that the requested information `falls squarely within a FOIL exemption by articulating a particularized and specific justification for denying access'" (Matter of Data Tree, LLC v Romaine, 9 NY3d 454, 462-463 [2007], quoting Matter of Capital Newspapers Div. of Hearst Corp. v Burns, 67 NY2d 562, 566 [1986]). Respondents contend, among other things, that disclosure of information pertaining to family members' income and/or investments would amount to an unwarranted invasion of privacy inasmuch as such information was reported in confidence and would result in economic or personal hardship (see Public Officers Law § 89 [2] [b] [iv], [v]). "What constitutes an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy is measured by what would be offensive and objectionable to a reasonable [person] of ordinary sensibilities" (Matter of Beyah v Goord, 309 AD2d 1049, 1050 [2003] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]).
Balancing the competing interests of public access and personal...
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Hepps v. N.Y. State Dep't of Health, 529148
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...460 ; Matter of Livson v. Town of Greenburgh, 141 A.D.3d 658, 661, 34 N.Y.S.3d 612 [2016] ; Matter of Humane Socy. of U.S. v. Fanslau, 54 A.D.3d 537, 538–539, 863 N.Y.S.2d 519 [2008] ).5 183 A.D.3d 289 According to respondent's Director of the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Robert Jake Locicer......
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...about whom the materials may be concerned (see Public Officers Law 89[2][b] ; Matter of Humane Society of the United States v. Fanslau, 54 A.D.3d 537, 863 N.Y.S.2d 519 [3rd Dep't 2008] ), not the agency from which disclosure is sought. So the fact that the Village "obtained these docum......
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In the Matter of N.Y. State Defenders Ass'n v. N.Y. State Police
...871 N.Y.S.2d 489 [2009], lv. denied 12 N.Y.3d 712, 882 N.Y.S.2d 397, 909 N.E.2d 1235 [2009]; Matter of Humane Socy. of U.S. v. Fanslau, 54 A.D.3d 537, 538–539, 863 N.Y.S.2d 519 [2008]; Matter of Henry Schein, Inc. v. Eristoff, 35 A.D.3d 1124, 1125–1126, 827 N.Y.S.2d 718 [2006] ). Furthermor......
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