Dallas Morning News Co. v. Board of Trustees

861 S.W.2d 532, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2838, 1993 WL 342584
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 10, 1993
Docket05-92-01469-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by70 cases

This text of 861 S.W.2d 532 (Dallas Morning News Co. v. Board of Trustees) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dallas Morning News Co. v. Board of Trustees, 861 S.W.2d 532, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2838, 1993 WL 342584 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

OPINION

BAKER, Justice.

This is a suit for declaratory judgment brought by the Dallas Morning News Company against the Board of Trustees of Dallas Independent School District for interpretation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.1 The trial court held that a closed meeting involving a representative of the Texas Education Agency and a quorum of the Board did not violate the Act. The News contends the trial court did not properly interpret the Act. The News argues the trial court either erred in failing to make certain fact findings or in making certain fact findings. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

[534]*534BACKGROUND FACTS

For some time before November 1990, the Texas Education Agency, as the supervisory agency for all public school districts, reviewed the Dallas Independent School District for accreditation purposes. A T.E.A. representative scheduled a meeting with the Board for November 14, 1990. The purpose of the meeting was to present a preliminary* report to the Board on the District’s accreditation.

The News learned of the meeting some weeks before November 14. The News made written demand on the Board for an open meeting. The Board did not respond to the demand. The News sued to secure a temporary restraining order to prevent the Board from holding a closed meeting with the T.E.A. representative. The trial court denied the News any relief.

The Board held the meeting on November 14. A T.E.A. representative requested all members of the press and public to leave the meeting. A reporter for the News was at the meeting. He requested that the meeting be open under the Act. The T.E.A. representative asked the News reporter and other members of the media to leave, and they did so.

The News later amended its suit to seek a declaratory judgment that the November 14 meeting violated the Act. The News also sought a permanent injunction to enjoin the Board from future infractions of the Act. After hearing evidence, the trial court denied the News any relief and entered a judgment for the Board.

The trial court filed extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law. In essence, the trial court found that no verbal exchange occurred during the November 14 meeting between a quorum of the Board or between a quorum of the Board and any other person about any issue within the Board’s jurisdiction or about any public business. The trial court concluded that the November 14 meeting did not fall within the meaning of “meeting” as defined by the Act because no verbal exchange occurred between a quorum of the Board or between a quorum of the Board and any other person.

The News’s Points Of ERROR

In two points of error, the News contends:

1. The trial court erred in rendering judgment for the Board because the Board violated the Act in closing the November 14 meeting. The News contends the trial court erred in its conclusion of law that the November 14 meeting was not subject to the Act.

2. The trial court erred in certain of its findings of fact. The News contends the trial court erred in not making findings of fact established by stipulations and in making findings of fact that supported the trial court’s conclusion that no meeting occurred within the meaning of the Act.

APPLICABLE LAW

A. The Act — Pre 1987 Amendments

Before the legislature amended the Act in 1987, the Act provided:

“Meeting” means any deliberation between a quorum of members of a governmental body at which any public business or public policy over which the governmental body has supervision or control is discussed or considered, or at which any formal action is taken.

Act of April 3, 1973, 63d Leg., R.S., ch. 31, § 1, 1973 Tex.Gen.Laws 45, amended by Act of May 31,1989, 70th Leg., R.S., ch. 549, § 1, 1973 Tex.Gen.Laws 2211.

The Act defined “deliberation” as:

a verbal exchange between a quorum of members of a governmental body attempting to arrive at a decision on any public business.

Id. Thus, before 1987, a governmental body held a meeting subject to the Act whenever a quorum of members of the body was present and the members took any formal action or engaged in a verbal exchange among themselves about the public business or policy over which the body had jurisdiction. Conversely, however, the members of a governmental body could meet privately to receive information from and ask questions of their employees or third parties if they did not discuss any public business among them[535]*535selves. See Pea Picker, Inc. v. Reagan, 632 S.W.2d 674, 677 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1982, writ refd n.r.e.); see also Op.Tex.Att’y Gen. No. JM-248 at 2 (1984).

B. The Act — Post 1987 Amendments

In 1987, the legislature amended the definitions of “meeting” and “deliberation.” The Act now states:

“Meeting” means any deliberation between a quorum of members of a governmental body, or between a quorum of members of a governmental body and any other person, at which any public business or public policy over which the governmental body has supervision or control is discussed or considered, or at which any formal action is taken.

Art. 6252-17, § 1(a). The Act now defines “deliberation” as:

A verbal exchange during a meeting between a quorum of members of a governmental body, or between a quorum of members of a governmental body and any other person, concerning any issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental body or any public business.

Art. 6252-17, § 1(b).

Another 1987 amendment exempted a conference between a quorum of the members of a governmental body and an employee or employees when the conference is for the sole purpose of receiving information from the employee or employees or to ask questions of the employee or employees. See Art. 6252-17, § 2(r).

In an opinion after the 1987 amendments, the Attorney General determined that a governmental body meets subject to the Act when a quorum of members is present and meets with a third party about the public business or policy over which the body has jurisdiction. See Op.Tex.Att’y Gen. No. DM-191 at 3 (1992). The Attorney General concluded that the addition of section 2(r) provided evidence that the legislature intended the amendments to include briefing sessions in the definition of meeting. The Attorney General held that because section 2(r) provides a specific exception for briefing sessions between the governmental body and its employees, the addition of section 2(r) was unnecessary if the legislation did not intend the amendments to sections 1(a) and 1(b) to make the definition of “meeting” encompass briefing sessions.

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

We construe a statute to give effect to the legislative intent. Harris County Dist. Attorney’s Office v. J.T.S., 807 S.W.2d 572, 574 (Tex.1971); McCulloch v. Fox & Jacobs, Inc., 696 S.W.2d 918, 921 (TexApp.—Dallas 1985, writ refd n.r.e.).

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Bluebook (online)
861 S.W.2d 532, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2838, 1993 WL 342584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallas-morning-news-co-v-board-of-trustees-texapp-1993.