Case Name: Jeff DORSON v. STATE of Louisiana, and Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, et al.
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1995-06-29
Citations: 657 So. 2d 755
Docket Number: Nos. 94-CA-1591; 95-1040
Parties: Jeff DORSON v. STATE of Louisiana, and Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, et al.
Judges: Before SCHOTT, C.J., and KLEES, ARMSTRONG, PLOTKIN and MURRAY, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 657
Pages: 755–760

Head Matter:
Jeff DORSON v. STATE of Louisiana, and Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, et al.
Nos. 94-CA-1591, 95-1040.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
June 29, 1995.
Deborah M. Grand, A PLC, Deborah M. Grand, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant.
Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, Lloyd J. Lunceford, Baton Rouge, for defendants-ap-pellees.
Before SCHOTT, C.J., and KLEES, ARMSTRONG, PLOTKIN and MURRAY, JJ.

Opinion:
bSCHOTT, Chief Judge.
Plaintiff is seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the production of public records under LSA-R.S. 44:1 et seq. of records concerning animals used for medical experiments and also seeking a declaratory judgment that meetings of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the Louisiana State University Medical Center are subject to the Open Meetings Law, LSA-R.S. 42:4.1 et seq. Defendants are the Medical Center, its Chancellor, Dr. Perry G. Rigby, and the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University (LSU). From a judgment dismissing plaintiffs suit he has appealed. We affirm.
In December 1993, plaintiff in his capacity of Executive Director of LISA (Legislation in Support of Animals, Inc.) directed a request to Dr. Rigby to make available for his review under the Louisiana Public Records Law, LSA-R.S. 44:1 et seq., various records concerning the purchase and use of experimental animals including those records maintained by IACUC. In response to this request Dr. Rigby agreed to make available the budgets and annual reports of the Medical Center and its purchase orders concerning experimental animals. He denied the request for IACUC records stating thatjjthese were not subject to the Louisiana Public Records Law. As to others he stated that such records either did not exist or the Medical Center did not have custody of them. Plaintiffs suit followed.
In response to the suit defendants admitted that Dr. Rigby was the custodian of the Medical Center's public records but alleged that IACUC was established and functions pursuant to federal law and regulations so that its records and meetings are not subject to Louisiana's Public Records or Open Meetings Law. As to the other records sought by plaintiff, the defendants took the position that they either had already been produced, did not exist, were not in the custody of the Medical Center, or were exempt from the Public Records Law as provided in LSA-R.S. 44:4. Defendants reconvened for attorney fees under LSA-R.S. 44:85(E) and 42:11(C).
The ease proceeded to trial largely on the basis of a stipulation of facts which left for resolution at trial only the question of whether IACUC's records were public records within the meaning and intent of the Public Records Law. Testimony from two members of the IACUC consisted for the most part of an explanation of the federal regulations under which they operated.
The Medical Center is an administrative unit of the LSU System located in Baton Rouge and operating under the control of the Board of Supervisors of LSU. The LSU System qualifies as a "research facility" under the provisions of the federal Animal Welfare Act, 7 U.S.C. § 2132(e), and the federal Health Research Extension Act of 1985, 42 U.S.C. § 289d(b)(l). Under both acts each research facility is required to establish a committee to monitor compliance with federal regulations. At LSU that committee is IACUC. Thus, the IACUC was created pursuant to and exists because of federal laws and regulations. It is accountable only to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the United States Department of Agriculture. It is not accountable to LSU and its ^authority is not derived from the LSU Board of Supervisors. If the IACUC determines that a proposed research project involving animal use does not adhere to federal animal use regulations, the project is not considered by the NIH or other governmental agencies for possible federal funding. No LSU or other state official or body has authority to countermand or reverse an adverse finding by the IACUC disapproving a research proposal. If a researcher is turned down by the IACUC, he may appeal to federal officials, not state officials.
With the exception of its chairman, no IACUC member receives compensation for his services as an IACUC member. The chairman is compensated from an "indirect cost pool" that is funded by the federal government.
The IACUC was created by order of the federal government, for the purpose of insuring that federal requirements are met, and is accountable only to federal authorities. No state regulations govern the conduct of IA-CUC activities. The fact that the entity monitored by the IACUC is a state entity does not change the federal nature of the IACUC.
LSA-R.S. 44:1(A)(2) defines public records as those generated under the authority of the constitution and laws of Louisiana. IACUC's records are generated strictly because of and in accordance with federal laws and regulations. Hence, the very definition of public records under the Public Records Law excludes IACUC records from the purview of the law. Conversely, the federal regulations that control IACUC specifically provide that disclosure of IACUC records is governed by the federal Freedom of Information Act.
Plaintiff makes much over the fact that the members of IACUC are LSU faculty members paid by and for the most part working full time for LSU. The Rfact remains that their involvement with IACUC is fully regulated by the federal government and not by LSU. With the passage of the Health Research Extension Act and the Animal Welfare Act by the federal government, the federal government has taken full charge of experimentation on live animals for research to the extent it deems necessary in order to insure that the animals are treated humanely. A research facility like LSU cannot experiment on live animals without complying with these federal laws and the regulations implementing them. The extent and content of the records IACUC keeps and which plaintiff seeks to review under our state public records law are dictated by the federal regulations. The custodian of these records is designated by the regulations to be a member of the committee (not Dr. Rigby). The regulations themselves prescribe that disclosure to persons like the plaintiff is governed by the federal Freedom of Information Act, not the Louisiana Public Records Law.
From the foregoing it readily follows that the minutes of IACUC meetings are not public records subject to inspection under LSA-R.S. 44:1 et seq. Neither does IACUC come within the definition of a public body under LSA-R.S. 42:4.2. Although it is a committee functioning within the Medical Center, it is concerned exclusively with laws and regulations of the federal government which created and controls it. Consequently, the Open Meetings Law found in LSA-R.S. 42:4.1 et seq. has no application to IACUC meetings. The members of IACUC, when functioning as such, are not acting as public officials of the state and their business is not state business. They are federal functionaries whose existence and activities are dictated by federal law.
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
ARMSTRONG, J., dissents with reasons.
MURRAY, J., dissents for reasons assigned by J. ARMSTRONG.