Skamangas v. Stockton

• Decision Date: 05 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 37,996-CA.,37,996-CA.
• Citation: 867 So.2d 1009
• Parties: Alison K. SKAMANGAS, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Larry STOCKTON, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

867 So.2d 1009

Alison K. SKAMANGAS, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Larry STOCKTON, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 37,996-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

March 5, 2004.

Order on Rehearing April 1, 2004.

Alison K. Skamangas, in Proper Person.

Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway, by Kenneth Mascagni, Robert Kennedy, Shreveport, for Appellees.

Before GASKINS, MOORE and LOLLEY, JJ.

GASKINS, J.

The plaintiff, Alison Kirkham Skamangas, appeals from the trial court's denial of her request for documents pertaining to a Bossier City police officer. We reverse and remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

In December 1996, the plaintiff, who was a paralegal, and Heith E. Pumphrey, an off-duty Bossier City police officer, were involved in a confrontation in Shreveport. According to the plaintiff, Pumphrey— while dressed in civilian clothes and traveling in his private vehicle—blocked her car with his vehicle and approached her with his hand on his hip near his plainly visible firearm. She said he acted in a threatening and verbally abusive manner which frightened her. Although he did not think she had violated any law, he supposedly wished to "discuss her driving with her." The officer admitted getting out of his vehicle to talk to the plaintiff but denied screaming at her or otherwise acting in a menacing manner.

In March 1997, the plaintiff filed suit against the officer in Caddo Parish for damages for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Following a bench trial, the trial court ruled in favor of the officer. This court affirmed on appeal, Kirkham v. Pumphrey, 34,349 (La.App.2d Cir.12/20/00), 775 So.2d 634,writ denied, XXXX-XXXX (La.3/30/01), 788 So.2d 1191.¹

During the pendency of the Caddo lawsuit, the plaintiff sought a subpoena duces tecum of Pumphrey's complete personnel file, including all documents and audio tapes pertaining to complaints about or investigations of the officer. Pumphrey requested a protective order and moved to quash the subpoena. The trial court found that the material sought was privileged and granted Pumphrey's motion.

On June 18, 2002, the plaintiff filed the instant suit, a petition for writ of mandamus, or alternatively for injunctive relief, against the City of Bossier City; Sergeant Larry Stockton, individually and as records custodian for the Internal Affairs Division of the Bossier City Police Department (BCPD); and Pumphrey. The plaintiff alleged that in late January and early February 2002, she had complied with the Louisiana Public Records Act, La. R.S. 44:1, et seq., when she requested documents pertaining to wrongful conduct by Pumphrey; however, she asserted that Stockton had refused to produce the documents. Instead, Stockton informed her in writing that internal affairs files were "not public records. These files are administrative and not released." The plaintiff further asserted that, contrary to La. R.S. 44:32(D), Stockton failed to cite the law exempting such records from inspection or copying.

The plaintiff requested that the court issue a writ of mandamus compelling the defendants to produce the documents or, alternatively, an injunction prohibiting them from withholding the items. She also sought civil penalties under La. R.S. 44:35(E)(1), as well as penalties and sanctions against Stockton under La. R.S. 44:37, 14:132 and 14:134(1). Finally she asked for an expedited hearing under La. R.S. 44:35(C) and La. C.C.P. art. 3782.

On July 9, 2002, the defendants filed a peremptory exception of res judicata and a dilatory exception of failure to conform the petition to La. C.C.P. art. 891(A). They argued that the issue of access to Pumphrey's internal affairs files had already been litigated in the Caddo lawsuit where the trial court had quashed the plaintiff's subpoena to obtain the officer's personnel file and all complaints or investigations involving him and granted the officer's motion for protective order. As to the dilatory exception, they alleged that the plaintiff failed to give an address for receipt of service. This was remedied in her first amended petition.

In opposition to the plaintiff's petition, the defendants filed the affidavits of Bossier City Police Chief K.M. Halphen and Assistant Police Chief Glenn Sproles. Chief Halphen stated that he utilized internal affairs investigations as a means to obtain feedback and criticism of police practices from within the department and from the public and that such investigations are an essential management tool. According to the chief, the BCPD has a policy of confidentiality to protect statements given by citizens under a promise of confidentiality or by officers under coerced waiver of their Fifth Amendment privilege; this policy is to insure an open channel for citizen complaints and "to promote full, candid communications with the internal affairs investigator." Assistant Chief Sproles, who was the BCPD Internal Affairs officer for three years, stated that the BCPD classifies its internal affairs investigations as confidential because they involve statements of officers with compelled waivers against self-incrimination, statements provided by witnesses who are assured confidentiality, citizen complaints which are often given on the basis of anonymity, and perceptions and opinions of internal affairs investigators which reflect confidential disclosures. According to Sproles, the effectiveness of internal affairs investigations requires "open and candid disclosure of information" which occurs on the basis of promised confidentiality. In Sproles' experience, persons with pertinent information are reluctant to share information about police misconduct and often refuse to provide information unless given assurance of confidentiality. Like the chief, the assistant chief averred that internal affairs investigations are an essential management tool in the BCPD and that the department maintains a policy of confidentiality to insure an open channel for citizen complaints and to promote full, candid communications with the internal affairs investigator.

A hearing was held on July 25, 2002. The defendants argued that they had supplied the plaintiff with everything in the Internal Affairs file except for items they deemed confidential; these confidential items consisted of 13 documents and two tapes which were related to an investigation of Pumphrey.² The trial court ruled on the merits that since the sought items involved an investigation of a law enforcement officer and were deemed confidential by the police department, the court likewise deemed them confidential and not subject to the Public Records Act. The court also declined to allow the plaintiff to question witnesses on the matter as it believed that would destroy the confidentiality of the records. The court chose to pretermit the res judicata issue.

A judgment denying the plaintiff's application for mandamus and/or injunction was signed on April 3, 2003.³

The plaintiff appeals.

LOUISIANA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT

The Louisiana Public Records Act, La. R.S. 44:1, et seq., provides for public access to information concerning state government as it is conducted through its many agencies. Fryar v. Guste, 371 So.2d 742 (La.1979). It is a product of La. Const. Art. 12, § 3, which provides:

No person shall be denied the right to observe the deliberations of public bodies and examine public documents, except in cases established by law.

La. R.S. 44:1(A)(2)(a) of the Louisiana Public Records Act defines "public records" as follows:

All books, records, writings, accounts, letters and letter books, maps, drawings, photographs, cards, tapes, recordings, memoranda, and papers, and all copies, duplicates, photographs, including microfilm, or other reproductions thereof, or any other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, including information contained in electronic data processing equipment, having been used, being in use, or prepared, possessed, or retained for use in the conduct, transaction, or performance of any business, transaction, work, duty, or function which was conducted, transacted, or performed by or under the authority of the constitution or laws of this state, or by or under the authority of any ordinance, regulation, mandate, or order of any public body or concerning the receipt or payment of any money received or paid by or under the authority of the constitution or the laws of this state, are "public records," except as otherwise provided in this Chapter or the Constitution of Louisiana.

The Louisiana Public Records Act was obviously intended to implement the inherent right of the public to be reasonably informed as to the manner, basis, and reasons upon which governmental affairs are conducted. Laws providing for the examination of public records must be liberally interpreted to extend rather than restrict access to public records. Trahan v. Larivee, 365 So.2d 294 (La.App. 3d Cir. 1978), writ denied, 366 So.2d 564 (La. 1979). See also Title Research Corporation v. Rausch, 450 So.2d 933 (La.1984); Bozeman v. Mack, 1997-2152 (La.App. 1st Cir.12/21/98), 744 So.2d 34, writ denied, XXXX-XXXX (La.3/19/99), 740 So.2d 113.

The act exempts certain records held by prosecutive, investigative, and law enforcement agencies. La. R.S. 44:3 provides in pertinent part:

A. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to require disclosures of records, or the information contained therein, held by the offices of the attorney general, district attorneys, sheriffs, police departments, Department of Public Safety and Corrections, marshals, investigators, public health investigators, correctional agencies, communications districts, intelligence agencies, or publicly owned water districts of the state, which records are:

(1) Records pertaining to pending criminal litigation or any criminal litigation which can be reasonably anticipated until such litigation has been finally

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