Annandale Advocate v. City of Annandale

435 N.W.2d 24, 1989 Minn. LEXIS 8, 1989 WL 2854
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 20, 1989
DocketCX-87-1583
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 435 N.W.2d 24 (Annandale Advocate v. City of Annandale) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Annandale Advocate v. City of Annandale, 435 N.W.2d 24, 1989 Minn. LEXIS 8, 1989 WL 2854 (Mich. 1989).

Opinions

YETKA, Justice.

This case comes before us on appeal from a decision of the Minnesota Court of Appeals which determined that the City of Annandale should make public, pursuant to the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and the Minnesota Open Meeting Law, an investigative report regarding the alleged misconduct of Annandale’s chief of police. The report was the basis for discharge of the chief, who appealed his discharge under the Minnesota Veterans Preference Act and then resigned before a new hearing pursuant to that act could be held.

We reverse the court of appeals and hold that the investigative report must remain private.

The facts of this case are not in dispute. On October 23, 1986, William Ledwein, Chief of Police for the City of Annandale, Minnesota, was indicted by a Wright County grand jury for reckless discharge of a handgun. In November of 1986, the An-nandale City Council retained John Scherer, an attorney with a private law firm, to conduct an investigation into other allegations of misconduct and incompetence against Ledwein. Mr. Scherer subsequently submitted an investigative report which was considered at a February 27, 1987 meeting of the city council. The city council closed this meeting, believing that the [26]*26Minnesota Government Data Practices Act required employee disciplinary proceedings to be closed. Based on the investigative report and ensuing discussion, the city council passed a resolution discharging Ledwein as chief of police subject to Led-wein’s right to a Veterans Preference Board hearing. Immediately after the city council meeting, the investigative reports were collected and were not made available to the public. On April 27, 1987, Ledwein, an honorably discharged veteran, requested a review of the city council’s decision pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 197.46 of the Veterans Preference Act. A hearing was tentatively set for October of 1987.

The Annandale Advocate, (hereinafter “The Advocate"), a local newspaper, requested access to the investigative report discussed at the city council meeting. The Annandale City Council denied the request. On July 15, 1987, The Advocate moved the Wright County District Court for an order compelling release of the investigative report. On July 22, 1987, all parties agreed that a copy of the investigative report should be provided to the district court for its in camera review. On July 30, 1987, the district court ordered that the investigative report, except information which identified alleged victims of sexual misconduct and that protected by the city’s attorney-client privilege, be released to the public. As a basis for this order, the district court ruled that the meeting at which the city council voted to terminate Ledwein was a “final disposition” of a disciplinary action under Minn.Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2 (1986) and, therefore, the investigative report was public data.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling that the city council’s meeting was the “final disposition” of a disciplinary action and the investigative report was thus public data. Annandale Advocate v. City of Annandale, 418 N.W.2d 522, 525 (Minn.App.1988). At oral argument, the court of appeals raised the question of whether the investigative report could also have been made public under Minnesota’s open meeting law. After further briefing by the parties on this issue, the court of appeals held that

the Annandale City Council was without authority to close the meeting. Therefore, as the meeting was required to be open, the data in the investigative report was reclassified from private to public. Id. at 525-26.

On appeal, Ledwein is disputing the court of appeals’ decision to release the investigative report. The City of Annan-dale, while a named party, does not dispute the release of the report and only seeks insulation from possible liability under the Data Practices Act. Amicus League of Minnesota Cities is also not disputing the report’s release, but is concerned with the establishment of guidelines for its member cities. Amicus AFSCME argues that the appellate court opinion significantly erodes both procedural and substantive due process protection and privacy and liberty rights of public employees.

The issues raised on appeal are:

I.Does Ledwein have standing to appeal the release of the investigative report?
II.Was the city council’s decision to terminate Ledwein a “final disposition” under Minn.Stat. § 13.43 (1986) when Ledwein was entitled to an additional hearing under the Veterans Preference Act?
III. Was the Annandale City Council meeting improperly closed?
IV. Does Minn.Stat. § 471.705, subd. lb (1986) provide an express exception to the Open Meeting Law?

The unusual procedural aspect of this case presents the threshold issue of standing. The record reveals that Ledwein was not, at anytime, a named party in The Advocate’s action nor did he at anytime seek to intervene. Ledwein was, however, sent a copy of The Advocate’s motion and other court papers and was allowed to appear and argue at the district court hearing. The district court ruled, though not a basis for its decision, that Ledwein lacked standing to oppose the release of the report. The court of appeals did not address the question of standing. Neither party appealed the issue to this court although [27]*27The Advocate, in its brief, does question whether Ledwein had standing to oppose the release of the report.

The question of standing, which can be raised by this court on its own motion, is essential to our exercise of jurisdiction. See, e.g., Izaak Walton League of Am. Endowment, Inc. v. State Dep’t of Natural Resources, 312 Minn. 587, 589, 252 N.W.2d 852, 854 (1977). In Minnesota, a party whose legitimate interest is “injured in fact” has standing unless the legislature has indicated that the interest asserted is not to be protected. Snyder’s Drug Stores, Inc. v. Minnesota State Bd. of Pharmacy, 301 Minn. 28, 32, 221 N.W.2d 162, 165 (1974).

We find that Ledwein has standing to oppose the release of the investigative report. Clearly, the release of the investigative report would cause an “injury in fact” to Ledwein’s legitimate interests of reputation and privacy. Furthermore, MinmStat. § 13.08, subd. 4 (1986), which gives parties the right to bring an action to compel compliance with the Data Practices Act, demonstrates that the legislature has recognized a government employee’s interest in preserving the confidentiality of personnel data.1

The court of appeals found that the Annandale City Council meeting at which Ledwein was terminated was a “final disposition” of a disciplinary proceeding. Thus, the investigatory report, as supporting documentation, was public data. City of Annandale, 418 N.W.2d at 525. On appeal, Ledwein contends that the city council meeting could not have been a “final disposition” of this matter because he was entitled to an additional hearing under the Veterans Preference Act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
435 N.W.2d 24, 1989 Minn. LEXIS 8, 1989 WL 2854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/annandale-advocate-v-city-of-annandale-minn-1989.