Watton v. Hegerty

2007 WI App 267, 744 N.W.2d 619, 306 Wis. 2d 542, 2007 Wisc. App. LEXIS 959
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedNovember 6, 2007
Docket2006AP3092
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2007 WI App 267 (Watton v. Hegerty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Watton v. Hegerty, 2007 WI App 267, 744 N.W.2d 619, 306 Wis. 2d 542, 2007 Wisc. App. LEXIS 959 (Wis. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

KESSLER, J.

¶ 1. Michael J. Watton appeals from an order denying a writ of mandamus which sought to compel Milwaukee Police Chief Nannette H. Hegerty to produce certain emergency detention reports prepared by Milwaukee police officers pursuant to Wis. Stat. §§ 51.15(1) and (4) (2005-06), 1 and retained by the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). The detention reports concerned conduct by Sidney Kente Gray. Wat-ton requested the records from the MPD under Wis. *549 Stat. § 19.35, the open records statute. 2 The trial court concluded that the MPD-retained emergency detention reports were confidential under Wis. Stat. § 51.30(4) as "treatment records," were therefore exempt from disclosure under the open records statute, and dismissed the petition. Because we conclude that the trial court did not correctly construe the relevant statutes, we reverse.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2. Watton is an attorney who represents the estate and family of Frank Moore II, a person shot and killed by Gray. Watton asserts, and the City does not dispute in these proceedings, that the killing occurred the following day, after Gray was alleged to be mistakenly released from custody. Watton asserts that the release was the result of negligence by the MPD.

¶ 3. Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.35, Watton filed a public records request with the MPD that, as material to this appeal, requested the following:

All police records which include a signed statement of emergency detention of Mr. Gray, including, but not limited to the following specific detentions:
a. June 13 or 14, 2006 (the signed statement of emergency detention pursuant to Wis. Stat. 51.15(4)(a) with all allegations and observations).
b. A January, 2006 signed statement of emergency detention, as described above.

¶ 4. The request identified Gray by various aliases and addresses. It is not disputed that Gray is the *550 person about whom the records were sought and to whom the records disputed here pertain. Watton was promptly presented with a one-page form denial, which made no reference to Watton's specific request, and which read in its entirety:

MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT REASONS FOR DELETION
#19 The information that has been deleted relates to a medical or physical condition which, if revealed, may constitute an invasion of the right of privacy of the individual involved and/or immediate survivors. Wis. Stat. §§ 51.30(4), 51.34, 895.50.

(Format, underlining and capitalization as in original.)

¶ 5. On September 19, 2006, Watton filed a petition for a writ of mandamus to compel Hegerty to provide the requested documents. In support of his petition, Watton attached various documents he apparently obtained from public sources. The record reflects Watton's requests that Gray's defense attorney authorize Gray to consent to release of these documents, and that this request was ignored. A six-page evaluation of Gray's competency, prepared by Deborah L. Collins, ABPi> Psy.D., Assistant Director of the Wisconsin Forensic Unit, is included in Watton's petition. The evaluation was done for use in Gray's criminal proceeding. 3 The evaluation discloses Gray's status as a mental health patient at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex on nine occasions between March 2005 and June 2006. Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (CCAP) records indicate the evaluation was done at the request *551 of Gray's attorney. The evaluation report 4 is a public record, filed with the court presiding over the criminal proceedings. On October 20, 2006, CCAP records indicate Gray entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to the criminal charges.

¶ 6. Although the trial court did not grant the writ and order a response, the court did set the matter for a hearing on November 20, 2006. The City produced the requested records (excluding the retained emergency detention reports) along with its formal written response, on October 19, 2006, forty-one days after the date of the original request. Wisconsin Stat. § 19.35(4) (a) of the open records statute requires production of the records "as soon as practicable and without delay." The trial court found that because the request identified multiple aliases, two birthdates, and several addresses for Gray, the time taken for response was not unreasonable.

¶ 7. At the hearing, the City responded to the petition by admitting that the MPD had copies of three emergency detention reports which involved Gray within the requested time period. The City asserted that it was not required by Wis. Stat. § 19.35 to produce those documents because they were prepared pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 51.15(4)(a), and therefore were confidential under § 51.30(4) as "treatment records." The City *552 also asserted that the records were protected from disclosure by Gray's right of privacy as described in Wis. Stat. § 995.50. 5 Finally, the City argued that Watton was not entitled to mandamus to compel production of the MPD documents because he had an alternative adequate remedy at law, i.e., § 51.30(3)(c) or (4)(b)(4) allowed him to ask another court to order the treatment facility to release its records.

¶ 8. The parties agreed that the records in dispute were created pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 51.15(4), and that a copy of each document was kept by the MPD. Watton made it clear that he was requesting the document retained by the MPD, not the one delivered to the treatment facility. All parties and the trial court assumed that the two documents are identical on their face.

¶ 9. The trial court read various statutes into the record. These included: Wis. Stat. § 51.15(4), which describes the substance required in, and procedural posture of, the emergency detention report; Wis. Stat. § 51.30(l)(am), which defines "registration records"; § 51.30(1)(b), which defines "treatment records"; and § 51.30(4), which addresses access to those and other records.

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Related

Watton v. Hegerty
2008 WI 74 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
2007 WI App 267, 744 N.W.2d 619, 306 Wis. 2d 542, 2007 Wisc. App. LEXIS 959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/watton-v-hegerty-wisctapp-2007.