Opinion ID: 1713787
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Material limitation

Text: Consent becomes important if we determine there is the sort of material limitation of the Friday firm's representation of the hospital to which Rule 1.7(b) refers. To determine the extent, if any, of a limitation on the Friday firm's representation of the hospital's interest in the FOIA case by virtue of its representation of St. Paul, we must assess and define the hospital's interest. The criminal liability which can be incurred by negligently refusing to honor an FOIA request is a misdemeanor fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200) or thirty (30) days in jail or both or a sentence of appropriate public service, or both. § 25-19-104. Costs and other litigation expenses might be assessed against the hospital unless the court finds that the position of the defendant was substantially justified. § 25-19-107(d). No doubt the hospital and its personnel have an interest in not being found guilty of a misdemeanor or assessed costs. The broader, long range interests of the hospital, however, as expressed by the directors in their vote on the issue and by Mr. Whittington's affidavit, obviously supersede, in the collective mind of the directors and their administrator, the fear of prosecution and the costs. According to them, the interest of the hospital is in protecting itself by declining to release some of the items requested. We cannot say that the Friday firm will be materially limited in its representation of the hospital's interest as it is so much the same as that of St. Paul. Obviously, there may be conflicting public interests at stake. The policy of the FOIA in making available to the public information about a publicly owned institution may conflict with the public interest in having a hospital capable of conducting quality assurance and peer review programs in confidence to assure good and improving performance. To the extent the dispute over release of the requested items involves matters not protected by statute or other privilege from disclosure, or in which the hospital may have no legitimate confidentiality interest, the interest to be protected is, again, that of the public in freedom of information. While the hospital and its personnel have, as does any citizen, a duty to follow the FOIA, there is nothing to prevent its following the advice of counsel in weighing that duty against other legal duties it may have. The arbiter who will protect the public's interest with respect to information as to which there is a dispute is the Trial Court, and the issues are the same as are found in any garden variety FOIA dispute. Even if we were to say the Friday firm's representation of the hospital might be materially limited by its relationship with St. Paul, we could not justify the disqualification on that basis because the hospital has given its consent to the Friday firm's representation of it after consultation as provided in Rule 1.7(b)(2). That does not end the matter, however, as Ms. Berry contends, and the Trial Court apparently agreed, that the conflict in this case presents such an appearance of impropriety that it cannot be consented to.