Sutton v. City of Oak Park
Sutton v. City of Oak Park
Concurring Opinion
(concurring.) I join with the majority in finding that the records at issue in this case are exempt from disclosure under MCL 15.243(l)(s)(irr). I write separately to explain why I conclude that the trial court had discretion to consider this ground for dismissal of plaintiff’s action asserted in defendant’s motion for reconsideration, despite defendant’s failure to assert this ground in its motion for summary disposition.
MCR 2.119(F)(3) provides:
(3) Generally, and without restricting the discretion of the court, a motion for rehearing or reconsideration which merely presents the same issues ruled on by the court,*352 either expressly or by reasonable implication, will not be granted. The moving party must demonstrate a palpable error by which the court was misled and show that a different disposition of the motion must result from correction of the error. [Emphasis added.]
Here, the trial court erred in failing to recognize its discretion to address the ground asserted in defendants’ motion for reconsideration. See Kowalski v Fiutowski, 247 Mich App 156, 165-166; 635 NW2d 502 (2001). The trial court’s failure to recognize its discretion is particularly significant here because the record clearly establishes that all the evidence necessary to support summary disposition in favor of defendants based on the personnel records exemption, MCL 15.243(1) (s)(iir), had been submitted to the trial court as exhibits attached to the motion for summary disposition and were available to the trial court as it conducted its in camera hearing. Thus, while a party may be precluded from submitting new evidence to the trial court in support of a motion for reconsideration, see Maiden v Rozwood, 461 Mich 109, 126, n 9; 597 NW2d 817 (1999); Quinto v Cross & Peters Co, 451 Mich 358, 366, n 5; 547 NW2d 314 (1996) (in ruling on a motion for summary disposition, a court considers the evidence then available to it), a party raising a newly asserted basis for dismissal in a motion for reconsideration does not necessarily run afoul of Maiden and Quinto in the appropriate circumstances.
Opinion of the Court
Defendants appeal as of right from the trial court’s order granting summary disposition in favor of plaintiff in this action brought under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (foia), MCL 15.231 el seq. We reverse and remand.
This case arises out of an incident that occurred on October 28, 1999, in the city of Oak Park. Plaintiff arrived at the home of Sabrina Finley, but she asked him to leave and he refused to do so. Finley advised plaintiff that if he did not leave, she would call the police. At that point, plaintiff left, but returned to Finley’s home shortly thereafter. Plaintiff was eventually approached by Oak Park Police Officer Bernard Anderson. Anderson told plaintiff that Finley requested that he stop harassing her and that he could be arrested for trespassing. This was the second time that Anderson warned plaintiff to stop harassing Finley, because Finley had twice reported
On November 9, 1999, plaintiff filed a citizen’s complaint with the Oak Park Public Safety Department, alleging misconduct on Anderson’s part. This resulted in an internal investigation of Anderson. On December 21, 1999, Robert Bauer, Deputy Director of the Oak Park Public Safety Department, responded to plaintiff’s complaint by stating that the investigation was complete and that there was no evidence of misconduct by Anderson.
On January 4, 2000, plaintiff sent a letter to Bauer requesting, under the foia, a copy of all documents regarding Anderson’s internal investigation. The request was denied on January 5, 2000, stating that the records were exempt from disclosure as being investigative records compiled for law enforcement purposes. MCL 15.243(l)(b). Plaintiff appealed the denial to the Public Safety Department and had a discussion with defendant G. Robert Seifert, the Director of the Oak Park Public Safety Department. On January 17, 2000, the Oak Park city council voted unanimously to deny plaintiff’s request for the records relating to the internal investigation. The city council stated the records were exempt from disclosure because they were records compiled for law enforcement purposes and could interfere with an ongoing investigation and result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. MCL 15.243(l)(b)(7) and (Hi). The city council also claimed the records were exempt from disclosure because they were personnel records of a law enforcement agency. MCL 15.243(1)(s)(ix).
The trial court, in an order entered on August 3, 2000, denied defendants’ motion for summary disposition and granted in part plaintiff’s motion for summary disposition. The trial court ordered defendants to produce the complete investigative file regarding plaintiff’s complaint against Anderson to plaintiff by August 4, 2000. The trial court denied plaintiff’s request for punitive damages. Defendants immediately moved for rehearing or reconsideration under MCR 2.119(F) contending that the records were exempt under subsection 13(l)(s)C¿ir) of the foia because they were personnel records of a law enforcement agency. The trial court denied the motion for reconsideration, but granted defendants’ motion for a stay of proceedings in a final order entered on August 23, 2000. Defendants have filed their claim of appeal, and argue that the records requested by plaintiff are exempt from disclosure under MCL 15.243(l)(b)(í), (Hi), and (s)(ix).
Initially, we address the position of plaintiff and the trial court regarding the motion for reconsideration that defendants’ reliance on MCL 15.243(l)(s)(iir) was improper because it was not relied on in defen
We agree with defendants that the records are exempt under MCL 15.243(l)(s)(iir), which provides:
A public body may exempt from disclosure as a public record under this act:
* * *
(s) Unless the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in nondisclosure in the particular instance, public records of a law enforcement agency, the release of which would do any of the following:
(ix) Disclose personnel records of law enforcement agencies.
Consequently, the internal investigation records requested by plaintiff constitute personnel records of a law enforcement agency that can be exempt from disclosure. Further, we believe that the affidavit of Deputy Director Robert Bauer provides sufficient reasons for nondisclosure. In his affidavit, he avers:
3. It is my experience that the process involved in conducting internal investigations is extremely difficult since employees are reluctant to give statements about the conduct and actions of fellow employees.
4. If such statements made during the course of internal investigations were made public, employees would likely refuse to give such statements, or would not be completely candid and forthcoming during such investigations.
5. Further, if such statements are made public, the ability of the City’s Public Safety Department to conduct such investigations would be destroyed or severely curtailed since information could not be obtained.
Accordingly, defendants had the right to exempt from disclosure the internal investigation records requested by plaintiff under MCL 15.243(1)(s)(rt).
Reversed and remanded for entry of judgment in favor of defendants. Jurisdiction is not retained.
We note that the statute was amended effective May 1, 2000, and that subsection 13(l)(s)(?'a;) was formerly designated as subsection
Because we find that the requested records are exempt from disclosure under MCL 15.243(l)(s)C¿a;), we need not address the other subsections relied on by defendants as an alleged basis for nondisclosure.
Reference
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published