KMEG Television, Inc. v. Iowa State Bd. of Regents

• Decision Date: 17 May 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-636,88-636
• Citation: 440 N.W.2d 382
• Parties: 53 Ed. Law Rep. 1269 KMEG TELEVISION, INC., Appellant, v. The IOWA STATE BOARD OF REGENTS; the University of Iowa; C.W. Elliott; Larry Bruner; Dorsey D. Ellis, Jr.; George Wine; and Rasmussen Communications Management Corporation, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 382

440 N.W.2d 382

53 Ed. Law Rep. 1269

KMEG TELEVISION, INC., Appellant, v. The IOWA STATE BOARD OF REGENTS; the University of Iowa; C.W. Elliott; Larry Bruner; Dorsey D. Ellis, Jr.; George Wine; and Rasmussen Communications Management Corporation, Appellees.

No. 88-636.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 17, 1989.

Rehearing Denied June 8, 1989.

D.G. Ribble and Wilford H. Stone of Lynch, Dallas, Smith & Harman, Cedar Rapids, and T.M. Whicher, Sioux City, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Merle Wilna Fleming, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellees Iowa State Bd. of Regents, The University of Iowa, C.W. Elliott, Larry Bruner, Dorsey D. Ellis, Jr., and George Wine.

Brent R. Appel and Gayla R. Harrison of Dickinson, Throckmorton, Parker, Mannheimer & Raife, P.C., Des Moines, for appellee Rasmussen Communications Management Corp.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and LARSON, NEUMAN, SNELL and ANDREASEN, JJ.

NEUMAN, Justice.

In 1987, appellant KMEG Television, Inc. lost out on its bid to become part of the Hawkeye Sports Network. This is an appeal from its unsuccessful attempt to compel disclosure of what other TV stations bid and paid for a one-year contract to telecast the Hawkeyes. KMEG frames the issue broadly: Are bids submitted for the purchase of public property subject to examination under Iowa Code chapter 22, the Freedom of Information Act? The district court, viewing the issue more narrowly, said "no," concluding that the bids at issue were neither public records nor in the control of a public body. We affirm.

The material facts are undisputed. Following a complex bidding process (not challenged here), defendant University of Iowa hired defendant Rasmussen Communications Management Corporation (Rasmussen) to provide marketing and broadcast production services for the University's intercollegiate athletic program during the 1987-88 academic year. As originally negotiated, the contract called for Rasmussen to receive a fixed fee of nearly $600,000 for its management and production services, with all advertising revenues (anticipated in the range of $1,500,000) payable directly to the University. Because of unfavorable tax consequences resulting from the University's receipt of this unrelated business income, however, the parties promptly renegotiated their agreement to provide for a one-year sale of the broadcast rights for $1,300,000.

As part of its contract with the University, Rasmussen agreed to establish a network of stations "covering at least 75% of the State's population" for the purpose of broadcasting those football and basketball games not televised by CBS, ABC, ESPN and the Big Ten Network. Thus Rasmussen solicited proposals from television stations to determine which local broadcasters should participate in what Rasmussen called the Hawkeye Sports Network. KMEG submitted a proposal, but Rasmussen selected one of KMEG's competitors in the Sioux City market.

Disappointed that its bid had been rejected, KMEG informally requested the University and Rasmussen to disclose all bid documents submitted by local stations seeking participation in the network. From the outset, University officials denied the request on the ground that the University took no part in the bidding process, having sold its broadcast rights to Rasmussen. Rasmussen denied the request as an unwarranted intrusion into the affairs of a private corporation.

KMEG then brought suit to compel disclosure of the documents pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 22 (1987), Iowa's examination of public records statute. The defendants filed affirmative defenses elaborating on their respective positions outlined above. Eventually the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The district court entered judgment for the defendants, ruling that the documents sought by KMEG "do not belong to, nor have they ever belonged to, the University of Iowa. Thus, the documents ... are not public records" and chapter 22 has no application. It is from this order that KMEG now appeals.

Customarily our review of an action brought under chapter 22 would be de novo, the nature of the action being that of mandamus, triable in equity. See Iowa Code §§ 22.5, .10, 661.3; Bruner v. Varley, 411 N.W.2d 150, 153, 155 (Iowa 1987); Head v. Colloton, 331 N.W.2d 870, 872 (Iowa 1983). The parties' first dispute is over the applicability of that standard here, inasmuch as KMEG filed its petition at law. See Beckman v. Carson, 372 N.W.2d 203, 206 (Iowa 1985) (review is at law, not de novo, where case filed and tried as action at law). The dispute is of no consequence, however, because the matter is before us on appeal from entry of summary judgment. Thus our task is to determine only whether a genuine issue of material fact exists and whether the trial court correctly applied the law. Adam v. Mount Pleasant Bank & Trust Co., 355 N.W.2d 868, 872 (Iowa 1984). Having determined that no factual dispute exists, we turn to the court's application of the law.

KMEG correctly asserts that any discussion of the scope of chapter 22 must start from the premise that its provisions are " 'to be interpreted liberally to provide broad public access to ... public records.' " City of Dubuque v. Dubuque Racing Ass'n, Ltd., 420 N.W.2d 450, 452 (Iowa 1988) (quoting Head, 331 N.W.2d at 526). Before applying the statute's remedial measures, however, a court must answer the threshold question of whether the records in controversy are in fact "public records." See id.; see also Iowa Civil Rights Comm'n v. City of Des Moines, 313 N.W.2d 491, 494-95 (Iowa 1981). As we see it, that is the decisive question in this case.

Iowa Code section 22.1 defines "public records" to include

all records ... or other information ... of or belonging to this state or any county, city, township, school corporation or any branch ... of any of the foregoing.

(Emphasis added.) In our recent Dubuque decision, we focused on the statutory phrase "of or belonging to" as we attempted to discern the legislative intent underlying section 22.1. Relying on the plain meaning of the words, we determined that records "of" the government are those that are produced in, or originate from, the government. Dubuque, 420 N.W.2d at 452. We then noted that documents "belonging to" the government are those that "originate from other sources but are held by public officers in their official capacity." Id.; see Howard v. Des Moines Register & Tribune Co., 283 N.W.2d 289, 299 (Iowa 1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 904, 100 S.Ct. 1081, 63 L.Ed.2d 320 (1980) (public records act authorizes access to writings held by public officials regardless of origin). Because the public documents sought in Dubuque were the minutes of a private nonprofit corporation hired to manage the Dubuque race track, and not documents of or otherwise belonging to the city itself, we held the minutes were not "public records" and that chapter 22 furnished no means of access to them. Id. at 454.

Applying this "of or belonging to" test to the present case yields a similar result. There is no dispute over the fact that the written bid proposals KMEG seeks are not now, nor have they ever been, in the possession of the University. Rasmussen, a private corporation, solicited the bids and oversaw the bidding procedure as part of its contractual obligation to create a sports network. The records, if any, kept in connection with that endeavor have not...