Vaccaro v. Polk Cnty.

• Decision Date: 16 December 2022
• Docket Number: 21-1651
• Citation: 983 N.W.2d 54
• Parties: Michelle VACCARO, Appellee, v. POLK COUNTY, Iowa, and Polk County Sheriff Kevin Schneider, Appellants.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

983 N.W.2d 54

Michelle VACCARO, Appellee,

v.POLK COUNTY, Iowa, and Polk County Sheriff Kevin Schneider, Appellants.

No. 21-1651

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Submitted November 17, 2022

Filed December 16, 2022

John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Julie J. Bussanmas and Meghan L. Gavin, Assistant County Attorneys, for appellants.

Gary Dickey of Dickey, Campbell, & Sahag Law Firm, PLC, Des Moines, for appellee.

Waterman, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which all justices joined.

WATERMAN, Justice.

In this interlocutory appeal, we revisit the interplay between our civil discovery rules and Iowa Code section 22.7(5) (2019), a confidentiality provision for police investigations in the Open Records Act. The plaintiff's daughter was a passenger killed in a motorcycle crash. The plaintiff settled her tort action against the driver without subpoenaing the county sheriff's investigative reports. She later questioned the adequacy of the criminal investigation against the driver, and requested all the department's records. The sheriff produced some information but argued other records were confidential. The plaintiff brought this enforcement action under chapter 22 to obtain its complete investigation file. The district court, without ruling on their confidentiality, ordered the records produced to her in discovery before trial, citing Mitchell v. City of Cedar Rapids , 926 N.W.2d 222, 228–29 (Iowa 2019) (holding discovery rules in tort action supersede section 22.7(5) ). We granted the sheriff's application for interlocutory appeal and retained the case.

On our review, we hold the district court erred by relying on civil discovery rules to compel production of the very records at issue in this chapter 22 enforcement action. Mitchell was a tort action against the municipality and is inapplicable to this chapter 22 enforcement action against the records custodian. We reverse the discovery order and remand the case for the district court to first determine whether the investigation records at issue are confidential before granting relief, if any, under chapter 22.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Michelle Vaccaro's seventeen-year-old daughter Jordan Leon was fatally injured in the early hours of October 6, 2019. Jordan was the passenger on a motorcycle operated by another seventeen-year-old, Kaden Close, who lost control on NW 6th Drive in rural Polk County near Ankeny. Close suffered minor injuries; Leon died at the scene. The Polk County Sheriff's department responded to the 911 call and investigated the accident, which led to criminal charges against Close.

Vaccaro had questions about her daughter's death, and in the ensuing months received what she alleges were "incomplete and inconsistent explanations" from the Polk County prosecutor and the Sheriff's department. Vaccaro became concerned that the crash investigation was not handled properly. Specifically, she wanted to know why the department did not investigate whether the driver was impaired by drugs, why the motorcycle was destroyed before the criminal case ended, why key facts about his driving record were initially overlooked, and whether the investigation was handled according to department policy. On January 17, 2020, she made a public records request under Iowa Code chapter 22 for records concerning her daughter's fatal crash. Within a week, the department provided her with the motor vehicle accident report, a preliminary criminal complaint, and an event chronology. Vaccaro continued to seek all of the Sheriff's investigative materials. On February 4, the department responded that the remaining records were exempt from public access as peace officer investigative reports under Iowa Code section 22.7(5).

On February 15, Close pleaded guilty to failure to maintain control of his motorcycle in violation of Iowa Code section 321.288(1), a simple misdemeanor. Vaccaro was notified that the criminal investigation and prosecution was complete and that no other charges would be filed. Meanwhile, Vaccaro had retained a personal injury lawyer to pursue civil claims against Close. On April 4, the Sheriff's department provided Vaccaro's lawyer with audio of the 911 call and the department's general policies regarding accident investigations. The department also provided a log of investigation materials withheld as confidential under section 22.7(5), including photos, diagrams, witness statements, in-car camera audio and video, deputy incident reports and supplemental reports, towing and impound reports and inventory, and a "Victim Resource Incident Report."

Vaccaro settled her civil wrongful death claim against Close without attempting to use civil discovery or subpoena powers to obtain the department's investigative materials. Instead, on June 15, she filed this enforcement action under Iowa Code chapter 22 against the County and Sheriff to obtain the remaining records. The defendants answered by asserting the records were exempt from disclosure under section 22.7(5). Vaccaro's counsel served a request for production, which met the same objection. Vaccaro filed a motion to compel discovery, which the defendants resisted. The district court reviewed the records in camera. On October 5, 2021, without ruling on whether the records were exempt under section 22.7(5), the court ordered them produced to Vaccaro's counsel under the discovery rules, relying on Mitchell . The court imposed a protective order preventing Vaccaro from releasing the records without court approval pending resolution of the chapter 22 proceeding. The order stated:

The court is ordering production of these records to plaintiff's counsel under the protection set forth in this order so plaintiff can prosecute her case. The court does not believe a plaintiff who brings a chapter 22 enforcement action is precluded from reviewing the documents at issue prior to trial. If that is the law a plaintiff would be severely handicapped in their ability to prosecute their case.

The court set trial for December 9.

The County filed an application for interlocutory appeal, arguing that Mitchell is inapplicable in a chapter 22 action and that records should not be turned over before the court determines whether the section 22.7(5) exemption applies. We granted the application and retained the case.

II. Standard of Review.

"We review the district court's interpretation of chapter 22 for correction of errors at law." Mitchell , 926 N.W.2d at 228 (quoting Iowa Film Prod. Servs. v. Iowa Dep't of Econ. Dev. , 818 N.W.2d 207, 217 (Iowa 2012) ). We review discovery rulings for abuse of discretion. Id. at 227. "A ruling based on an erroneous interpretation of a discovery rule can constitute an abuse of discretion." Id. (quoting Mediacom Iowa, L.L.C. v. Inc. City of Spencer , 682 N.W.2d 62, 66 (Iowa 2004) ).

III. Analysis.

We must decide whether the district court put the cart before the horse. The County argues that the records at issue are peace officer investigative reports exempt from disclosure under Iowa Code section 22.7(5).¹ Vaccaro, relying on Mitchell , argues she can obtain the records in discovery in this chapter 22 action before the district court rules on whether they are exempt from disclosure under section 22.7(5), and the district court agreed with her. The County argues the discovery ruling was premature and eviscerates the statutory protection for police investigative reports and other exempt records. We agree with the County that the district court first must determine whether the records are exempt before deciding whether Vaccaro is entitled to obtain them.

We begin with an overview of Iowa Code chapter 22, the Open Records Act, also known as the Iowa Freedom of Information Act (IFOIA), which "embodies ‘a liberal policy in favor of access to public records.’ " Milligan v. Ottumwa Police Dep't , 937 N.W.2d 97, 102 (Iowa 2020) (quoting Mitchell , 926 N.W.2d at 229 ). "The purpose of [chapter 22] is ‘to open the doors of government to public scrutiny [and] to prevent government from secreting its decision-making activities from the public, on whose behalf it is its duty to act.’ " Mitchell , 926 N.W.2d at 229 (alterations in original) (quoting City of Riverdale v. Diercks , 806 N.W.2d 643, 652 (Iowa 2011) ). " ‘The Act essentially gives all persons the right to examine public records ... [but] then lists specific categories of records that must be kept confidential....’ ‘The general assembly [thereby] created and fixed the limitations on disclosure.’ " Id. (alterations and omissions in original) (citation omitted) (quoting ACLU Found. of Iowa, Inc. v. Recs. Custodian, Atl. Cmty. Sch. Dist. , 818 N.W.2d 231, 232–33 (Iowa 2012) ). "Disclosure is the rule, and one seeking the protection of one of the statute's exemptions bears the burden of demonstrating the exemption's applicability." Id. (quoting Diercks , 806 N.W.2d at 652 ).

The County acknowledges that it bears the burden to establish the records withheld from Vaccaro are exempt from disclosure under section 22.7(5). The problem is the district court short-circuited the proceedings by ordering the County to produce the records to Vaccaro before ruling on the exemption. The district court misapplied Mitchell .

Mitchell is distinguishable. In that case, Cedar Rapids police officer Lucas Jones was on patrol at night and stopped a truck operated by Jerime Mitchell for a broken taillight. Id. at 225. What happened next was depicted on the dashcam:

Mitchell got out of the truck and resisted Officer Jones's efforts to handcuff him. The two men wrestled to the ground. Officer Jones's police dog, Bane, joined the fray. Mitchell forced his way up and back into his driver's seat and began driving off with Officer Jones clinging to the open door. Officer Jones unholstered his handgun and fired three shots before jumping or falling off the moving truck. A bullet wound near Mitchell's cervical spine left him paralyzed from the neck down.

The incident received widespread media

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