Prince George's County v. Washington Post Co.
| Decision Date | 29 January 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 1765,1765 |
| Citation | 149 Md. App. 289,815 A.2d 859 |
| Parties | PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Maryland, v. THE WASHINGTON POST COMPANY. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Henry Bielec (Sean D. Wallace, Leonard L. Lucchi, John A. Bielec and Karen T.
Zavakos, on the brief), Upper Marlboro, for appellant.
Adam L. Perlman (Kevin T. Baine and Williams & Connolly, LLP, on the brief), Washington, DC, for appellee.
Argued before MURPHY, C.J., SALMON and KENNEY, JJ. KENNEY, Judge.
Appellant/cross-appellee, Prince George's County (the "County"), challenges the decision of the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, determining that some of the records, or information contained therein, requested by appellee/cross-appellant, the Washington Post Co. (the "Post"), was public information pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act ("MPIA"), Md.Code Ann. (1984, 1999 Repl.Vol., 2000 Supp.), § 10-611, et seq., of the State Government Article ("SG"). The Post, in turn, contests certain limitations on the records to be disclosed. The County presents six questions and the Post two,1 which we have distilled into one:
Did the circuit court err in its determinations regarding the Post's requests for information pursuant to the MPIA? We affirm the circuit court's decision as to the Commanders' Information Reports, the closed Human Relations Commission records that were the subject of public hearings, the eight closed Police Department investigative reports, and the risk management database contents and fields; and we vacate, in part, the circuit court's decision regarding the police roster.
This case involves numerous Post requests for police-related records made pursuant to SG § 10-611, et seq.2 The County's denial of those requests resulted in two lawsuits, filed pursuant to SG § 10-623(a),3 which are the subject of this appeal. The parties are in agreement that there are no material facts in dispute in this case.
The following factual summary is not in chronological order. It is organized according to the subject matter of the Post's MPIA requests to the County.
On January 12, 2000, a Post staff writer requested copies of the Prince George's County Police Commanders' Information Reports ("CIRs"), also known as the daily Commander's Log, for the period between December 10, 1999, and January 10, 2000. The County denied that request on March 24, 2000, stating that the purpose of the CIRs was "to provide a vehicle for Police Department supervisors to inform Police Department management of matters that management must be made aware of to effectively manage the affairs of the Police Department." The County went on to state that CIRs were only retained for thirty days. It cited SG § 10-615(1)4 as a basis for the County's denial. On July 14, 2000, the same staff writer requested a "roster of all sworn officers employed by the Prince George's County Police Department, including each officer's full name, rank, badge number, job assignment and date of hire." By letter dated August 16, 2000, the County denied the Post's request, stating that the request was "contrary to the public interest" and sought "personnel information ... not subject to public inspection." The County cited SG § 10-616(i)5 as the justification for its denial. In the alternative, the County offered the Post "documents that detail the number of sworn officers, the allocation of sworn officers to the various districts and other assignments, and the number of sworn officers holding the various ranks." Further, the County indicated that it could provide to the Post "a list of all County employees without the job classification of the employee."
In May 2000, the staff writer obtained access, without filing an MPIA request, to a box of Prince George's County Human Relations Commission ("HRC") records containing citizen complaints of police misconduct.6 HRC permitted the reporter to look at closed cases that had resulted in public hearings. The staff writer subsequently requested unredacted copies of a subset of those records. Instead, the County provided redacted copies of HRC's records, excluding the identity of the officers, the complainants, the witnesses, and investigatory notes.
On August 11, 2000, the Post requested investigative reports from eight cases related to "police-involved shootings and incustody death cases" compiled by the Prince George's County Police Department, Criminal Investigations Division ("CID"). The County orally advised the Post that its request had been denied.
On June 28, 2000, the Post requested an electronic copy of the County's risk management case tracking database, including "all records included in the database and all field in the database." The County denied that request on July 21, 2000, citing interagency communications and attorney work-product exemptions.7 On July 25, 2000, the Post requested "[a] printout of the file layout of the risk management case tracking database, listing the fields by name and description." The County denied this request on August 21, 2000, stating that it did not own or maintain the database and that the owner, Trigon Administrators, Inc. ("Trigon"), considered the database "confidential proprietary information."
In response to the County's denials, the Post filed two lawsuits in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County. The first lawsuit (Case No. CAL 00-20465), filed against the County and the Prince George's County Police Department on September 5, 2000, sought declaratory and injunctive relief based on the County's failure to make the CIRs public.8 The second lawsuit (Case No. CAL 00-22133) was filed on September 28, 2000, against the County, the County Police Department, and HRC. It sought declaratory and injunctive relief based on the County's refusal to make public the roster of all sworn officers; HRC's documents relating to police misconduct; the investigative reports compiled by CID; and documents relating to the risk management case tracking database.9 The circuit court consolidated the two cases on December 19, 2000.
On August 30, 2001, following oral argument on the Post's motion for summary judgment, the court ruled as follows:
But suffice it to say, as far as the Commander's Information Reports are concerned, these are generated and they're circulated, and they're circulated to individuals within the department. And I understand their circulation, their circulation are not restricted to a small cadre of people who are in only a need-to-know venue. It's passed from person to person. And obviously people who don't need to know see these reports. Therefore, this Court finds that these reports are public information. So long as they are going to be created by a Commanders [sic], it is the Court's view that they are available to the Washington Post or any other entity who operates pursuant to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Therefore, I'm going to grant the Motion with respect to the Commander's Information Report.
As to the police roster, I also grant the movant's Motion for Summary Judgment but with this caveat and this restriction. For the protection of individuals who may be in sensitive positions, the County may disclose separately all the names of all individuals who work for Prince Georges County in a public safety role.
As far as the Humans Relations records are concerned, I meant that very clearly that the horses are out, they're running around. Unfortunately for [the County counsel] and his boss they had nothing to do with it. The protocol was not followed by [the Post staff writer] who looked at things, and things that he saw that were within his universe of request by the Washington Post, I grant their Motion that they be disclosed.
Investigatory files, I have grave concerns about the investigatory files. I find that I am going to deny to [sic] the Motion for Summary Judgment. I don't believe that there's been enough information brought forth by the movant to say that the Court should grant that motion, and I would note that 10-618 doesn't require that the custodian give any explanation for why to deny what they deny. They have a right to deny it if they feel it's in the public interest and investigatory files are very sensitive files, and I find that they have—they, meaning the County—has sustained its burden for showing that it's in the public interest that these files not be disclosed, and that burden has not been overcome by the movant in this particular case.
The closed cases give me some concern. I do not know legally what would be the value to the public of nondisclosure of closed files, and the County has not sustained its burden in that, so I grant the Motion for Summary Judgment as to those closed investigative files.
The Risk Management database, I grant the Washington Post Motion in part and I deny in part. And here's what I mean by that. Any attorney/client information or work product of attorneys that's included in that database is not subject to disclosure. As far as intellectual property is concerned and the proprietary rights, I understand it is easier for the County to say, well, we have contracted with X company and therefore X company has said that you can't have it, and that's not on us, that's on X company. I think that's a sham. And the Court doesn't like that type of sham because the party who contracts with another party can, by contract language, build in what may be disclosed and what may not be disclosed. On the other hand, at no time would I wish to put a company at risk as far as intellectual property is concerned. Therefore, the order of this Court is that any information that's not attorney/client information is not privileged as to work product and is not intellectual property that resides within the Risk Management database may be disclosed to the Washington Post.
Now I'm sure you'll be back again arguing what qualifies for that, and I don't mind...
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