Haskins v. Oronoko Township Supervisor
Haskins v. Oronoko Township Supervisor
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff appeals as of right from an order determining that certain materials requested of defendant pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.231 et seq.; MSA 4.1801(1) et seq. (foia), were exempt from disclosure. We affirm in part but remand for a determination of an award of costs to plaintiff._
(1) A public body may exempt from disclosure as a public record under this act:
(b) Investigating records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that disclosure as a public record would do any of the following:
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(iv) Disclose the identity of a confidential source, or if the record is compiled by a criminal law enforcement agency in the course of a criminal investigation, disclose confidential information furnished only by a confidential source.
(t) Unless the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in nondisclosure in the particular instance, public records of a police or sheriffs agency or department, the release of which would do any of the following:
(i) Identify or provide a means of identifying an informer.
Plaintiff thereafter filed a complaint seeking release of the records, plus costs and damages. Defendant eventually filed a motion for an in camera inspection of the requested documents to determine whether they should be released to
1. The Court determines and orders that the following requested documents are exempt documents pursuant to MCL 15.243 and thus are not subject to disclosure, viz,
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2. The Court Orders that Defendant shall forthwith furnish to Plaintiff copies of all requested material other then [sic] those items set forth in Paragraph 1 hereof.
3. The Court does not find that the refusal of Defendant to disclose the requested information was arbitrary or capricious, hower [sic], in the interest of justice Orders that Defendant shall be responsible for the cost of copying and furnishing to Plaintiff the material required by this Order.
Plaintiff first argues that the court’s order should be reversed as contrary to the holding in The Evening News Ass’n v City of Troy, 417 Mich 481; 339 NW2d 421 (1983), reh den 418 Mich 1202 (1984). At issue in Evening News was a court’s order determining that police incident reports
We think that the requirements of Evening News were adequately complied with in this case. The court conducted an in camera, de novo review of the documents to determine whether exemption from disclosure was justified, a procedure specifically set forth in Evening News. Moreover, on these facts, the court’s reasons for ordering certain materials exempt were adequate. This is not a case like Evening News (or the federal cases upon which Evening News relied) involving an extremely broad exemption such as "interfer[ence] with law enforcement proceedings,” which in the public interest demands particularization before nondisclosure will be upheld. Here, the pertinent statutory exemptions are narrowly drawn to focus specifically on information supplied by confidential sources or informants. Plaintiff does not suggest how the defendant or the court could have more
Plaintiff also contends that the trial court erred in not granting plaintiff his actual costs. MCL 15.240(4); MSA 4.1801(10)(4) provides that if "a person asserting the right to inspect or to receive a copy of a public record . . . prevails in part, the court may in its discretion award . . . costs ... or an appropriate portion thereof . . . .” In this case, plaintiff prevailed in part since the trial court ordered defendant to produce less than all of the requested materials. Thus, the question is whether the trial court abused its discretion in awarding plaintiff only "the cost of copying and furnishing to plaintiff the material.” Compare Kestenbaum v Michigan State University, 97 Mich App 5; 294 NW2d 228 (1980), aff'd 414 Mich 510; 327 NW2d 783 (1982).
We conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to award plaintiff his total actual costs. Under MCL 15.234(1); MSA 4.1801(4)(1), defendant was already obligated to furnish the nonexempt documents to plaintiff "without charge for the first $20.00,” since plaintiff submitted an affidavit of indigency and sup
Affirmed in part and remanded.
Arguably, as pertains to the exemption at subsection (l)(t), under Evening News the trial court should have specified why disclosure of the identity of the informant involved in the murder investigation would not be in the public interest. However, plaintiff made no attempt to demonstrate a public benefit in such disclosure which would outweigh the informant’s interest in privacy. Compare OAG, 1979 No 5500, p 255 (July 23, 1979), and Kestenbaum v Michigan State University, 97 Mich App 5; 294 NW2d 228 (1980), aff'd 414 Mich 510; 327 NW2d 783 (1982) (where an invasion of privacy may occur the person seeking disclosure must show that the benefit to the public interest in releasing the information outweighs the possibility of harm to people involved).
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting in part). I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which concludes that the trial judge abused his discretion in failing to award plaintiff his actual costs.
MCL 15.248(4); MSA 4.1801(10X4) provides:
(4) If a person asserting the right to inspect or to receive a copy of a public record or a portion thereof prevails in an action commenced pursuant to this section, the court shall award reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and disbursements. If the person prevails in part, the court may in its discretion award reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and disbursement or an appropriate portion thereof. The award shall be assessed against the public body liable for damages under subsection (5).
This Court has previously recognized that a plaintiff in an foia action must "prevail” in the action to be entitled to a mandatory award of costs and fees; if he or she prevailed "in part,” the award is discretionary. Walloon Lake Water System, Inc v Melrose Twp, 163 Mich App 726; 415 NW2d 292 (1987).
In view of the fact that this defendant prevailed
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