Sage Information Services v. King

910 N.E.2d 1180, 391 Ill. App. 3d 1023, 331 Ill. Dec. 424, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 316
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 29, 2009
Docket2-07-1262
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 910 N.E.2d 1180 (Sage Information Services v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sage Information Services v. King, 910 N.E.2d 1180, 391 Ill. App. 3d 1023, 331 Ill. Dec. 424, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 316 (Ill. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

JUSTICE BURKE

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiffs, Sage Information Services and Roger W. Hurlbert (Sage), filed a one-count complaint against defendant, Gary A. King, Du Page County Clerk, seeking relief from a denial of an Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 2006)) request. Sage alleged that the fee to be charged by defendant for copying a database compilation of the entire real property assessments for Du Page County exceeded the actual cost of copying as provided by the FOIA and should be deemed a denial of the request. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to section 2 — 619(a)(9) of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2 — 619(a)(9) (West 2006)), arguing that, rather than the actual cost of reproduction under the FOIA, the fee provisions of sections 9 — 20 and 14 — 30 of the Illinois Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/9 — 20, 14 — 30 (West 2006)), in conjunction with Du Page County Board Resolution FI — 0002—02 (December 11, 2001), control what is to be charged for the assessment records Sage sought. Sage responded that section 5 — 1106.1 of the Counties Code (55 ILCS 5/5— 1106.1 (West 2006)) is more specific than the Property Tax Code, as it governs Internet access of bulk electronic data, which is precisely what Sage requested, and therefore its fee provision should control.

The trial court found that Sage’s claim fell within the more specific provisions of the Property Tax Code, in conjunction with Resolution FI — 0002—02, and that the $5,500 copying fee that defendant wanted to charge Sage was reasonable.

Sage appeals, contending that (1) the $5,500 fee to be charged exceeds the cost of electronic reproduction, as contemplated by section 6(a) of the FOIA; (2) none of the provisions of the Property Tax Code apply; (3) section 5 — 1106.1 of the Counties Code specifically applies to bulk Internet access, which Sage seeks, and therefore its fee provision should apply; (4) the trial court’s determination cuts against the public policy considerations of the FOIA; and (5) the trial court erred in considering a material and genuine question of fact when it determined that the charge of $5,500 was reasonable. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

On December 7, 2006, Sage sent a letter to the Du Page County supervisor of assessments, requesting a copy on compact disc (CD), or similar electronic media including through e-mail transmission, of the current real property assessment file for the entire Du Page County pursuant to the FOIA. Sage specifically requested “data such as parcel number, township, area code, property class, homesite acres, parcel status, ownership information, valuations, and exceptions, short legal description, situs address, any available sale information, and any building characteristic data (square footage, year built, number of bathrooms, roof type, and so further).” Sage sought an “as is” or “electronic Xerox” of the file, “without the need to make selective extracts.” Sage requested “[a] database format capable of being sorted and manipulated (fixed length filed, spreadsheet, etc.).” Sage agreed to pay actual costs for copying the data.

On December 14, 2006, defendant replied that the data requested was “only available in raw data form” and that Sage needed to format it. Defendant further responded that Sage would need to provide three IBM 3490 cartridges along with a payment of $5,500.

On April 9, 2007, Sage requested that defendant reconsider the imposition of the fee and assess a fee relative to the actual cost of reproduction as contemplated by the FOIA. Sage did not believe that the actual cost of reproducing data electronically was close to $5,500, because the cost of copying electronic records was much less than the cost associated with copying paper records. Sage asserted that the legislature has determined the cost of production of voter files by local election authorities for electronic transmission to the State Board of Elections to be $0.00034 per voter record. Sage stated that voter files in surrounding counties are available for less than $100 and that the cost of copying electoral records is much less than the cost associated with paper records.

On May 2, 2007, defendant sent a second letter denying Sage’s request. Defendant alleged that the materials Sage requested were exempt under section 1 of the FOIA, based on “Private Gain” and “GIS Information” (geographical informational systems). 1 Defendant also alleged that Resolution FI — 0002—02 establishes fees for the information that Sage sought. Defendant enclosed a copy of the resolution with his response and informed Sage that “[tjhis office provides this information annually to many clients nationwide.” The resolution establishes the county’s uniform rate schedule for real estate database products. Section D(l)(b) of the resolution assesses a flat rate of $5,500 for the entire Du Page County real estate database listing.

Sage filed a one-count complaint against defendant, seeking a court order directing defendant to release the information it sought pursuant to the FOIA, “at a cost not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction, as contemplated by law.” Sage alleged that, after the initial $5,500 copying charge, defendant assessed “a new copying charge under GIS information, which amounted to more than the original copying charge.” 2

Defendant filed a section 2 — 619 motion to dismiss. Defendant argued that the production of the records sought by Sage is governed by the more specific provisions of sections 9 — 20 and 14 — 30 of the Property Tax Code, which concern property tax assessment records and contain their own fee provisions. Defendant also argued that the Du Page County Board under Resolution FI — 0002—02 established a reasonable fee of $5,500 for purchasing a copy of the entire real estate database product.

Following oral argument, the trial court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss. In its memorandum opinion, the court found that Resolution FI — 0002—02, in conjunction with the Property Tax Code, was far more specific than the FOIA regarding the fees that could be charged and thus was the controlling statute. The trial court commented that section 14 — 30 of the Property Tax Code provides a copying expense of 35 cents per page, “which would take the expense far over $100,000” because there are over 325,000 real estate assessment parcels in Du Page County. However, the court found that Resolution FI — 0002—02, which charges a flat fee of $5,500, was exceptionally reasonable; the charge was less than what would be authorized, and “this Court specifically finds that charge to be reasonable, appropriate and far from limiting, prohibitive or oppressive [,] which would lead this Court to presume or find any limitations to the reasonable person of obtaining copies of those documents that had been requested.”

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Bluebook (online)
910 N.E.2d 1180, 391 Ill. App. 3d 1023, 331 Ill. Dec. 424, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sage-information-services-v-king-illappct-2009.