Lepp v. Cheboygan Area Schools

• Decision Date: 20 August 1991
• Docket Number: Docket No. 120322
• Parties: Theo LEPP, Individually and as Conservator for Adam Lepp, a minor, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHEBOYGAN AREA SCHOOLS, Defendant-Appellee. 190 Mich.App. 726, 476 N.W.2d 506, 70 Ed. Law Rep. 970
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 506

476 N.W.2d 506

Theo LEPP, Individually and as Conservator for Adam Lepp, a minor, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHEBOYGAN AREA SCHOOLS, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 120322.

190 Mich.App. 726, 476 N.W.2d 506, 70 Ed. Law Rep. 970

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted April 16, 1991, at Grand Rapids.

Decided Aug. 20, 1991, at 9:15 a.m.

Released for Publication Nov. 18, 1991.

[190 MICHAPP 727] Sumpter & Perry, P.C. by Thomas E. McDonald, Cheboygan, for plaintiff-appellant.

Peter Patrick, Cheboygan, for defendant-appellee.

Before SULLIVAN, P.J., and HOLBROOK and McDONALD, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff appeals as of right an order of the Cheboygan Circuit Court denying her motion for summary disposition and granting defendant's motion for summary disposition. Plaintiff had requested the production of documents by defendant pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, M.C.L. Sec. 15.231 et seq.; M.S.A. Sec. 4.1801(1) et seq., but the trial court found that the documents fell within a statutory exemption and granted summary disposition in defendant's favor.

Plaintiff is the mother of and conservator for Adam Lepp, a minor. Plaintiff and her son reside in Cheboygan County, and Adam attends classes in the Cheboygan Area School District. On February 9, 1989, plaintiff submitted a written request to defendant for a copy of Adam's school file. Plaintiff [190 MICHAPP 728] executed an authorization for the release of the information and offered to pay copying charges as calculated under the FOIA. Defendant refused to disclose the information, claiming that it fell within the privacy exemption of the FOIA. Defendant further stated that plaintiff could obtain the file by submitting a request to the school board or by authorizing her attorney to make such a request. Because disclosure of the information fell outside the FOIA, plaintiff would have to pay copying fees as determined by school board policy rather than by the FOIA.

Plaintiff subsequently filed suit in circuit court, seeking to obtain the file pursuant to the FOIA and at a cost in conformity with that statute. Plaintiff moved for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(9) and (10), while defendant moved for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(8). In a judgment entered on August 16, 1989, the trial court denied plaintiff's motion, granted defendant's motion, and entered a judgment in defendant's favor.

Plaintiff first argues that her complaint stated a cause of action under the FOIA, and that it was clear error for the trial court to grant defendant summary disposition on the basis of the claimed statutory exemption. We agree.

A motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8) is tested by the pleadings alone. Only the legal sufficiency of the complaint is reviewed. This Court accepts as true all factual allegations pleaded, as well as any reasonable inferences that may be drawn therefrom. The motion may be granted only when the claim is so clearly unenforceable that as a matter of law no factual development could possibly justify recovery. Ashworth v. Jefferson Screw Products, Inc., 176 Mich.App. 737, 741, 440 N.W.2d 101 (1989).

[190 MICHAPP 729] The FOIA requires the disclosure of all public records except those that are specifically exempted under M.C.L. Sec. 15.243; M.S.A. Sec. 4.1801(13). Hagen v. Dep't of Ed., 431 Mich. 118, 123, 427 N.W.2d 879 (1988). In the case at bar, defendant denied plaintiff's request for her son's school file pursuant to the FOIA, claiming that the information contained in the file fell within the exemption in Sec. 13(1)(a) of the act:

Information of a personal nature where the public disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy. [M.C.L. Sec. 15.243(1)(a); M.S.A. Sec. 4.180(13)(1)(a).]

Once a public body denies a request for disclosure, the party filing the request is entitled to commence an action in circuit court to compel disclosure of the public record. M.C.L. Sec. 15.235(7); M.S.A. Sec. 4.1801(5)(7); M.C.L. Sec. 15.240(1); M.S.A. Sec. 4.1801(10)(1). Upon defendant's denial of her request for this file, plaintiff commenced this action in circuit court. Defendant filed a motion for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(8), failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

Plaintiff alleged that defendant, a public body, maintained a file on her son for use in the performance of its official function, that plaintiff had requested this file in writing in accordance with the provisions of the FOIA, and that defendant denied the request. Defendant's denial constituted a final decision by the school district, from which plaintiff was entitled to appeal pursuant to the FOIA. Plaintiff's well-pleaded complaint sufficiently supported a claim under the FOIA, and we therefore find that the trial court erred when it granted defendant's motion for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(8).

[190 MICHAPP 730] Next, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred when it held that her son's file was exempt from disclosure, thereby denying her motion for summary disposition brought under MCR 2.116(C)(9) and (10).

A motion under subrule C(9) tests the legal sufficiency of a pleaded defense. The motion is tested on the pleadings alone, with all well-pleaded allegations being accepted as true. The proper test is whether the defendant's defenses are "so clearly untenable as a matter of law that no factual development could possibly deny plaintiff's right to recovery." Domako v. Rowe, 184 Mich.App. 137, 142, 457 N.W.2d 107 (1990); Vanguard Ins. Co. v. Clarke, 181 Mich.App. 36, 42, 448 N.W.2d 754 (1989).

A motion brought under MCR 2.116(C)(10) tests whether there is factual support for a plaintiff's claim. The motion may be granted only if there is no issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. On review, this Court considers the pleadings, depositions, affidavits, admissions, and any other documentary evidence in a light most favorable to nonmoving party. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Freeman, 432 Mich. 656, 662, 443 N.W.2d 734 (1989).

Paragraph 4 of plaintiff's complaint alleged that "as it relates to plaintiff, the file regarding Adam Lepp does not fall within any of the exempt public records under MCL 15.243 [M.S.A. Sec. 4.1801(13) ]." In its answer, defendant specifically denied this allegation, labeling it untrue. Plaintiff's allegation was material to whether defendant must disclose the requested material, because if the file did not fall within the exemption, defendant was required to disclose it. Because defendant categorically denied this material allegation, defendant stated a defense sufficient to withstand plaintiff's motion for [190 MICHAPP 731] summary disposition under subrule C(9), and the trial court's denial of the motion was correct.

Plaintiff's motion for summary disposition under subrule C(10), no genuine issue of material fact, however, was improperly denied.

Plaintiff requested her son's school file from defendant in her capacity as mother of and conservator for the minor son. Defendant refused to disclose her son's file, claiming that to do so would constitute an invasion of her son's privacy. The question here does not involve a disputed fact, but rather one of law: whether the file fell within a statutory exemption.

Under Sec. 13(1)(a) of the FOIA, the school board could refuse to...