Pamplin Media Grp. v. City of Salem

429 P.3d 1019, 293 Or. App. 755
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedSeptember 6, 2018
DocketA162248
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 429 P.3d 1019 (Pamplin Media Grp. v. City of Salem) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pamplin Media Grp. v. City of Salem, 429 P.3d 1019, 293 Or. App. 755 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

DEHOOG, P. J.

*1021*757Plaintiff in this public records case is the publisher of the Woodburn Independent newspaper. After learning of the arrest of a former Woodburn-area resident on allegations that he had sexually abused a minor, one of plaintiff's reporters asked the police department of the City of Salem, defendant in this case, to release the record of that arrest. See ORS 192.345(3) (requiring disclosure to the public of "the record of an arrest").1 The city refused to release any information about the arrest, asserting that all reports related to the police investigation and the subsequent arrest were "compiled under" statutes governing certain reports of child abuse and mandating that the reports be investigated; consequently, the city maintained, all the information in those reports, including all information regarding the arrest, was excluded from disclosure to the public. See ORS 419B.035 (excluding "reports and records compiled under the provisions of ORS 419B.010 to 419B.050" from public disclosure). When plaintiff subsequently filed a declaratory judgment action against the city, the trial court adopted the city's interpretation of the relevant statutes, granted the city's motion for summary judgment, denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, and entered a general judgment of dismissal.2

On appeal, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment and granting summary judgment to the city, because the city failed to show that the arrest information that plaintiff had requested was in a public record exempt from disclosure under ORS 419B.035. As explained below, we agree. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.

*758When error is assigned to both rulings on cross-motions for summary judgment, we review both rulings to determine whether there are any disputed issues of material fact and, if not, whether either party was entitled to prevail as a matter of law. Port of Portland v. Ore. Center for Environ. Health , 238 Or. App. 404, 408, 243 P.3d 102 (2010), rev. den. , 350 Or. 230, 253 P.3d 1079 (2011).

The facts are undisputed. In February 2015, Francke, a reporter with plaintiff, requested that the city's police department disclose the "full investigation/arrest report" regarding an incident report dated January 14, 2015, and involving Klain Joseph Pippert. The city denied Francke's request, explaining that "[t]his case involves a juvenile victim of abuse. In accordance with the personal privacy exemption of ORS 192.502 ; ORS 419B.035(1) & 419B.005, the report is not available for release." Francke responded by submitting a second request the next day, this time seeking "case/arrest, redacted as necessary to protect juvenile victims and otherwise provided by ORS." The city responded, "DENIED PER LEGAL DEPT. & OR. ORS." Francke petitioned the Marion County District Attorney to review the denial. See ORS 192.415 (requiring district attorneys to review certain denials of public records requests). Relying on ORS 419B.035(1), the district attorney agreed with the city that the records could not be disclosed.

Plaintiff then filed this declaratory judgment action, alleging the above facts and requesting an order directing the city "to immediately provide a redacted copy of the City of Salem Police Department's arrest report relating to Klain Joseph Pippert (Incident No. 15002198), removing from such report any identifying information concerning *1022any juvenile." In its answer, the city contended that, to the extent that it had materials responsive to plaintiff's request, they were not disclosable:

"[N]o document exists entitled 'arrest report' as requested by Plaintiff. There are incident and supplemental reports prepared by personnel at the Salem Police Department; those reports have the number SMP 15002198 assigned to them. Defendant City of Salem has regarded Plaintiff's request for an 'arrest report' as a request to obtain the incident and supplemental reports numbered SMP 15002198.
*759Defendant City of Salem asserts that the reports numbered SMP 15002198 may not be disclosed in either redacted or unredacted form."

Both parties moved for summary judgment. In its motion for summary judgment, the city reasoned that ORS 419B.035(1) prohibits disclosure of any documentation related in any way to an investigation of child abuse; as a result, all of the reports responsive to plaintiff's request-those numbered SMP 15002198 in the police department's case files-were exempt from disclosure.3 Moreover, the city asserted, even if ORS 419B.035(1) allowed it to disclose some part of the case file, "there is no separate document entitled 'arrest report,' only incident and supplemental reports. See Defendant's Answer, paragraph 6. Therefore, notwithstanding the prohibitions set forth in ORS 419B.035, disclosure of an 'arrest report' is impossible." The only materials that the city submitted in support of its own motion or in response to plaintiff's cross-motion for summary judgment were copies of plaintiff's public records requests and the city's corresponding denials.

Plaintiff's position, on the other hand, was that it did "not seek investigatory information beyond" the items that ORS 192.345

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Bluebook (online)
429 P.3d 1019, 293 Or. App. 755, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pamplin-media-grp-v-city-of-salem-orctapp-2018.