Knight Pub. v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hosp.

• Decision Date: 16 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. COA04-1252.,COA04-1252.
• Citation: 616 S.E.2d 602
• Parties: The KNIGHT PUBLISHING CO., d/b/a the Charlotte Observer, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG HOSPITAL AUTHORITY d/b/a, Carolinas Healthcare System, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

616 S.E.2d 602

The KNIGHT PUBLISHING CO., d/b/a the Charlotte Observer, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG HOSPITAL AUTHORITY d/b/a, Carolinas Healthcare System, Defendant-Appellant.

No. COA04-1252.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

August 16, 2005.

Appeal by defendant from order and judgment entered 2 August 2004 by Judge David S. Cayer in Superior Court, Mecklenburg County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 11 May 2005.

Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey, & Leonard, L.L.P., by Mark J. Prak, Marcus W. Trathen and Charles E. Coble, Raleigh, for plaintiff-appellee.

Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A., by Mark W. Merritt and Blake W. Thomas, Charlotte, for defendant-appellant.

Linwood L. Jones, Cary, for North Carolina Hospital Association, amicus curiae.

McGEE, Judge.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority d/b/a, Carolinas Healthcare System (defendant) is a "public body and a body corporate and politic" organized and existing under the Hospital Authorities Act, N.C. Gen.Stat. § 131E-15 et seq. See N.C. Gen.Stat. § 131E-17(c) (2003). Knight Publishing Co., d/b/a The Charlotte Observer (plaintiff), sent a letter to defendant on 18 October 2002, requesting access to certain records of defendant pursuant to the Public Records Act, N.C. Gen.Stat. § 132-1 et seq., and the Public Hospital Personnel Act, N.C. Gen.Stat. § 131E-257 et seq. Specifically, plaintiff sought (1) the "current compensation (in any form) currently paid to" seventeen of defendant's existing and former employees; (2) "records describing the last compensation to" such individuals if they were not currently being paid; (3) "[r]ecords describing the date and amount of the most recent increase or decrease in salary" for the seventeen individuals; (4) "[r]ecords describing any additional monetary or other benefits (including but not limited, to retirement benefits, severance package, or pension benefits) paid or promised to" three of the seventeen named individuals; and (5) "[d]ocuments relating to expense reimbursement requests" for these three individuals.

Ten days after receiving plaintiff's request for information, defendant sent a letter to plaintiff explaining that defendant was governed by N.C. Gen.Stat. § 131E-257.2, which defendant argued expressly limited to "current salary" the compensation information that a public hospital could release regarding its employees. Defendant thereby only provided plaintiff with: (1) the current salary paid to each current employee of defendant identified by plaintiff; (2) the last salary paid to each former employee of defendant requested by plaintiff; and (3) the dates and amounts of the most recent increase or decrease in salary for the identified individuals. Defendant stated in its letter that the additional information requested by plaintiff did not, "in the opinion of Carolinas Health Care System, fall within the definition of `salary.'"

Plaintiff took no further action until 12 January 2004, when plaintiff filed suit against defendant under the Public Records Act and the Public Hospital Personnel Act seeking production of the documents and information it had requested earlier. Plaintiff also sought a declaratory judgment that N.C.G.S. § 131E-257.2 "requires the disclosure of, among other personnel information, information concerning any retirement benefits or severance pay promised to or received by former ... employees [of defendant]." Defendant filed its answer to plaintiff's complaint on 19 February 2004, and plaintiff moved for summary judgment on 26 May 2004.

In an order and judgment entered 2 August 2004, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, concluding that the Public Hospital Personnel Act, when read in pari materia with the Public Records Act, did not cover the documents and information requested by plaintiff. The trial court ordered defendant to provide the requested personnel information and documents to plaintiff. Defendant filed and served notice of appeal on 4 August 2004 and moved the trial court to stay the proceedings pending appeal. The trial court denied defendant's motion on 16 August 2004. Our Court temporarily stayed the 2 August 2004 order and judgment on 18 August 2004 and granted defendant's writ of supersedeas on 31 August 2004.

A summary judgment should be granted "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." N.C. Gen.Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 56(c) (2003). A moving party "has the burden of establishing the lack of any triable issue of fact." Kidd v. Early, 289 N.C. 343, 352, 222 S.E.2d 392, 399 (1976). As our Supreme Court has stated:

The purpose of summary judgment can be summarized as being a device to bring litigation to an early decision on the merits without the delay and expense of a trial where it can be readily demonstrated that no material facts are in issue. Two types of cases are involved: (a) Those where a claim or defense is utterly baseless in fact, and (b) those where only a question of law on the indisputable facts is in controversy and it can be appropriately decided without full exposure of trial.

Kessing v. Nat. Mortgage Corp., 278 N.C. 523, 533, 180 S.E.2d 823, 829 (1971). In cases "[w]here there is no genuine issue as to the facts, the presence of important or difficult questions of law is no barrier to the granting of summary judgment." Id. at 534, 180 S.E.2d at 830.

In the present case, defendant does not argue that there are genuine issues of material fact for trial, nor has defendant assigned error on this ground. This is a proper case for summary judgment because a question of law, being the interpretation of N.C. Gen.Stat. § 131E-257.2 and its legal effect on the undisputed facts, was in controversy. See Blades v. City of Raleigh, 280 N.C. 531, 545, 187 S.E.2d 35, 43 (1972) (ruling summary judgment was proper where there was "no substantial controversy as to the facts[,]" only as to the "legal significance of those facts"). While it is undisputed that the information requested from defendant by plaintiff constitutes public records under the Public Records Act, it is disputed whether the information requested is protected from disclosure under the Public Hospital Personnel Act. The specific issue before this Court is what compensation information regarding public hospital employees is a matter of public record.

Under the Public Records Act, the public generally has liberal access to public records. Virmani v. Presbyterian Health Services Corp., 350 N.C. 449, 462, 515 S.E.2d 675, 685 (1999). "[I]n the absence of clear statutory exemption or exception, documents falling within the definition of `public records' in the Public Records [Act] must be made available for public inspection." News and Observer Publishing Co. v. Poole, 330 N.C. 465, 486, 412 S.E.2d 7, 19 (1992); see also N.C. Gen.Stat. § 132.6 (2003) (providing for the inspection and examination of public records). "Public records" are defined as

all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data-processing records, artifacts, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions.

N.C. Gen.Stat. § 132-1(a) (2003).

Defendant, in the present case, asserts that its personnel records, including the documents requested by plaintiff, are exempted from the Public Records Act by the Public Hospital Personnel Act, and therefore the trial court erred in ordering defendant to produce the documents requested by plaintiff. The Public Hospital Personnel Act provides the following with regard to the privacy of public hospital employee personnel records:

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 132-6 or any other general law or local act concerning access to public records, personnel files of employees and applicants for employment maintained by a public hospital are subject to inspection and may be disclosed only as provided by this section. For purposes of this section, an employee's personnel file consists of any information in any form gathered by the public hospital with respect to an employee and, by way of illustration but not limitation, relating to the employee's application, selection or nonselection, performance, promotions, demotions, transfers, suspensions and other disciplinary actions, evaluation forms, leave, salary, and termination of employment. As used in this section, "employee" includes both current and former employees of a public hospital.

N.C. Gen.Stat. § 131E-257.2(a) (2003).

Defendant argues that the General Assembly intended the Public Hospital Personnel Act to be a statutory exception to the Public Records Act, thereby affording greater privacy protection to public hospitals' personnel records than to personnel records of other public entities. To determine a statute's purpose, we must first examine the statute's plain language. State v. Hooper, 358 N.C. 122, 125, 591 S.E.2d 514, 516 (2004). "`Where the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, there is no room for judicial construction and the courts must construe the statute using its plain meaning.'" Id. (quoting Burgess v. Your House of Raleigh, 326 N.C. 205, 209, 388 S.E.2d 134, 136 (1990)). Defendant correctly asserts that N.C.G.S. § 131E-257.2 clearly and unambiguously limits what and when information in the personnel records of public hospitals can be disclosed publicly, notwithstanding the Public Records Act.

The Public Hospital Personnel Act is a very specific statute regarding public hospitals. In the section providing for the privacy of public hospital employee personnel records, the statute...