University System v. BILTIMORE SUN

• Decision Date: 15 April 2004
• Docket Number: No. 138,138
• Citation: 381 Md. 79,847 A.2d 427
• Parties: UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF MARYLAND, et al. v. The BALTIMORE SUN COMPANY, et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

847 A.2d 427

381 Md. 79

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF MARYLAND, et al. v. The BALTIMORE SUN COMPANY, et al.

No. 138, Sept. Term, 2002.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

April 15, 2004.

Mark J. Davis, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellants. Mary R. Craig (Mary R. Craig, P.A., on brief), Towson, for appellees.

Argued before BELL, C.J., ELDRIDGE ¹, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL and BATTAGLIA, JJ.

BELL, C.J.

This case concerns a request to the University of Maryland, College Park ("UMCP") for public records, made by The Baltimore Sun and Jon Morgan, one of its sports reporters (collectively, the "appellees") pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act (hereafter "the MPIA"). The MPIA is codified at Maryland Code (1984, 1999 Repl.Vol., 2001 Cum.Supp.) §§ 10-611 et seq. of the State Government Article.²

I.

This case had its genesis when the appellees made a written MPIA request to the Athletic Department of UMCP seeking "copies of the original and revised employment contracts for head football coach Ralph Friedgen .... [and] any separate letters of understanding, side letters or similar documents specifying incentives, bonuses, broadcast agreements, athletic footwear contracts, and other matters concerning the terms and conditions of [Coach Friedgen's] employment and compensation." In response, University Counsel disclosed that Coach Friedgen's annual salary was $183,920,³ and denied the remainder of the request, citing § 10-616(i)⁴ and § 10-617(f),⁵ which prohibit the disclosure of personnel and certain financial information.

Dissatisfied with the UMCP's response, the appellees retained counsel, who sought reconsideration of UMCP's decision to disclose only those documents related to Coach Friedgen's salary and to refuse disclosure of documents "describing other employment related compensation due" him. They argued that UMCP's reliance on § 10-616(i) and § 10-617(f) was flawed because UMCP improperly and narrowly interpreted the term, "salary," and, at the same time, improperly construed the term, "personnel," broadly, both inconsistently with the "bias in favor of disclosure recognized by the courts."⁶

The UMCP was not persuaded and maintained its position. Responding to the appellees' request for reconsideration, it wrote:

"Although we understand the MPIA's general construction favoring disclosure of public records, we remain constrained by its specific prohibitions. With respect to the Baltimore Sun's request, the MPIA expressly requires us to deny inspection of Coach Friedgen's personnel records, as well as any part of a record that contains information about his finances, including income. (See §§ 10-616(i) and 10-617(f) of the MPIA). The only exception to these requirements is limited to his "salary" as a State employee. (See §§ 10-611(g)(2) and 10-617(f)(1) of the MPIA).

"With respect to salary, we have concluded, in consultation with the Maryland Attorney General's Office, that the MPIA requires the disclosure of the total amount of an employee's State earnings."

Nonetheless, perhaps in an attempt to avoid the threatened lawsuit, Coach Friedgen voluntarily agreed to provide additional information about his compensation. Accordingly, the UMCP disclosed the following additional information:

"Coach Friedgen receives a salary of $179,753 in 2001-2002. Also, he has earned the maximum amount of compensation for competitive achievement (ACC Championship and BCS Bowl), automobile allowances, radio and television appearances and apparel/endorsement compensation, which totals $762,000. The availability of student athlete academic achievement and citizenship bonuses is evaluated subsequent to the completion of the fiscal year."

In the meantime and prior to receipt of the additional information voluntarily disclosed by Coach Friedgen, the appellees made another MPIA request of the UMCP Athletic Department, this one seeking information with respect to the compensation and income of UMCP's head basketball coach, Gary Williams.⁷ The University responded to that request as follows:

"Except for salary of a State employee, the MPIA requires State agencies to deny access to personnel records and financial information of an individual, including income. See § 10-616(i) and § 10-617(f) of the MPIA. Therefore, University of Maryland legal counsel has advised Intercollegiate Athletics to provide the following information in response to your request.

"Coach Gary Williams receives a regular salary of $202,991 in FY 2002. To date, he has also earned $540,400 for competitive achievement (ACC Regular Season Championship and NCAA National Championship), automobile allowance and radio, television and personal appearances. The availability of additional University compensation based upon student-athlete academic achievement and NCAA compliance is evaluated at a later date. His apparel/endorsement compensation is received directly from the apparel company.

"We must decline to provide you with copies of Coach Williams' employment contract and/or any other records in the University's possession pertaining to other income, which Coach Williams may receive directly from outside sources (e.g., apparel/equipment endorsements, sports camps, consulting, speaking engagements outside the scope of the contract, etc.) Such documents would constitute personnel records and/or contain personal financial information other than the salary of a State employee, and their disclosure is prohibited under § 10-616(i) and § 10-617(f) of the MPIA."

Thus, UMCP reaffirmed its previously communicated interpretation of the MPIA and, accordingly, refused to disclose any information relating to Coach Williams' non-University related income. Nor did it disclose a copy of Coach William's University contract.

The appellees filed suit in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, naming as defendants the University System of Maryland, Deborah A Yow, Ph.D., the athletic director at UMCP, and David Haglund, the assistant director of Intercollegiate Athletics at UMCP (collectively, the "appellants" or the "University"). The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, at the center of which was the question whether the University was required to disclose, not only each coach's total salary from the University, but, the underlying contracts and agreements relating to each coach's income. The appellants argued that the plain language of the applicable sections of the MPIA statute requires state agencies to deny disclosure of a state employee's personnel and financial records, with a narrow exception for salary derived from State funds. The appellees, on the other hand, maintained that the records sought were subject to the mandatory disclosure requirements of the MPIA and that the appellant's interpretation "accords broad secrecy to the terms of a state employee's compensation contrary to the MPIA's mandate that the salary of public employees should be a matter of public record."

The trial court found in favor of the appellees. It reasoned: the legislature has directed that the MPIA "shall be construed in favor of permitting inspection" of public records; the term "salary" unambiguously is included in the definition of "public record" in § 10-611(g)(2); the financial records exclusion contained in § 10-617(f) does not apply to the salary of a public employee; and, salary related documents are not personnel records within the meaning of the statute. Consequently, the trial court granted the appellees' motion for summary judgment and denied the appellants' cross-motion. Accordingly, the court ordered that the records requested by the appellees be produced.⁸ The court instructed that, to the extent that salary information and personnel records coexist in the same document, the personnel information should be redacted before the records are delivered to the appellees.

The appellants moved to alter or amend the judgment, in an attempt to have any references to payments to the coaches from third parties deleted from the court's order. They argued, in that regard, that such payments did not constitute "salary" of a public employee and pointed out that the appellees requested information only about payments to the coaches "by the State University from public funds" and indicated that the records it sought did "not reveal anything about the coaches' personal finances other than how much taxpayer money they are paid from their public employment." The trial court denied that motion, whereupon the appellants timely noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. Prior to any proceedings on the merits in the intermediate appellate court,⁹ this Court, on its own initiative, issued a writ of certiorari. University System of Maryland v. The Baltimore Sun Co., 374 Md. 81, 821 A.2d 369, (2003).

III.

We recently considered the applicability of the MPIA in Hammen v. Baltimore County Police Department, 373 Md. 440, 455-456, 818 A.2d 1125, 1134-36 (2003). In that case, we commented that the MPIA requires that a "custodian shall permit a person ... to inspect any public record at any reasonable time" except as otherwise provided by law. Id., citing § 10-613.¹⁰ We explained that the "provisions of the ... Act reflect the legislative intent that the citizens of the State of Maryland be accorded wide-ranging access to public information concerning the operation of their government." Id., quoting Kirwan v. The Diamondback, 352 Md. 74, 81, 721 A.2d 196, 199 (1998) (emphasis in original). Moreover, we made clear that the MPIA "is to be construed in favor of disclosure." Id., citing § 10-612(b).¹¹ See also, Fioretti v. Maryland State Board of Dental Examiners, 351 Md. 66, 73, 716 A.2d 258, 262 (1998) ("`the provisions of the Public Information Act reflect the legislative intent that citizens of the State of Maryland be accorded wide-ranging access to public information concerning the operation of their government.'"), quoting A.S. Abell...