Title: Oscar Stilley v. Wanda McBride

State: arkansas

Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court

Document:

Oscar STILLEY v. Wanda McBRIDE

97-628                                             ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
                Opinion delivered March 19, 1998


1.   Appeal & error -- doctrine of mootness -- case addressed --
     issue of public interest presented. -- The supreme court does
     not render advisory opinions nor answer academic questions;
     under Arkansas law, a case becomes moot when any judgment
     rendered would have no practical effect on an existing legal
     controversy; however, when the case involves the public
     interest, or tends to become moot before litigation can run
     its course, or a decision might avert future litigation, the
     supreme court has, with some regularity, refused to permit
     mootness to become the determinant; where the case presented
     an issue of public interest, the supreme court agreed to
     address and decide it.

2.   Statutes -- Arkansas Freedom of Information Act -- disclosure
     of personnel records. -- The fact that section 25-19-
     105(b)(10) of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act exempts
     disclosure of personnel records only when a clearly
     unwarranted personal privacy invasion would result, indicates
     that certain "warranted" privacy invasions will be tolerated;
     thus, section 25-19-105(b)(10) requires that the public's
     right to knowledge of the records be weighed against an
     individual's right to privacy; because section 25-19-
     105(b)(10) allows warranted invasions of privacy, it follows
     that when the public's interest is substantial, it will
     usually outweigh any individual privacy interests and
     disclosure will be favored. 

3.   Statutes -- FOIA -- federal court's standard adopted by
     Arkansas -- substantial privacy interest exists in records
     revealing intimate details of person's life. -- While
     recognizing the federal FOI Act personnel exemption is not
     identical to Arkansas's, the supreme court has adopted the
     federal court's standard of balancing the public's and
     individual's privacy interests when deciding whether personnel
     information should be disclosed under  25-19-105(b)(10); the
     federal courts have found that a substantial privacy interest
     exists in records revealing the intimate details of a person's
     life, including any information that might subject the person
     to embarrassment, harassment, disgrace, or loss of employment
     or friends.

4.   Statutes -- FOIA -- behaviors contained in records regarding
     officer promotions is a substantial personal-privacy interest
     -- release of which would result in unwarranted invasion of
     officer's personal privacy. -- The supreme court has held that
     release of embarrassing behaviors potentially contained in
     records regarding officer promotions touches on the intimate
     details of an officer-candidate's life, and is a substantial
     personal-privacy interest and would result in a clearly
     unwarranted invasion of the officer's personal privacy.

5.   Statutes -- federal FOIA -- Supreme Court determined
     disclosure of employees home addresses constituted clearly
     unwarranted invasion of privacy. -- The Supreme Court decided
     in the case of Department of Defense v. FLRA,