Opinion ID: 1248766
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hooper's May 29, 1997 statements to Monsour

Text: At summary judgment, the district court held that there was a factual question as to which statements attributed to Hooper in Monsour's notes and in the Pioneer Press article were actually made by Hooper. At trial, Hooper admitted that he told Monsour all of the information contained in her notes and, based on this admission, the court held that the majority of these statements violated the MGDPA. The court of appeals held that four of Hooper's statements were erroneously submitted to the jury because they were not recorded in physical form or derived from recorded information and were therefore not government data. Navarre, 633 N.W.2d at 52. The definition of personnel data includes data on individuals, as defined by Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subd. 5. Certain personnel data is public. See Minn.Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2. The definition of data on individuals includes government data, which is defined as all data collected, created, received, maintained, or disseminated    regardless of its physical form, storage media or conditions of use. Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subds. 5, 7 (2000) (emphasis added). The legislature also provides that some personnel data that is private may become public for a number of reasons, including the final disposition of disciplinary action and data documenting that action. See Minn.Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2(a)(5). While we have not yet interpreted the statutory definition of government data, the court of appeals has held that to constitute government data, the data must be recorded in some physical form. Deli v. Hasselmo, 542 N.W.2d 649, 653-54 (Minn.App.), review denied (Minn. Apr. 16, 1996). The court of appeals has also held that unrecorded mental impressions are not government data. Keezer v. Spickard, 493 N.W.2d 614, 617-18 (Minn.App.), review denied (Minn. Feb. 12, 1993). These cases are in line with the section of the MGDPA explaining its scope, which states that the MGDPA establishes a presumption that government data are public and are accessible by the public for both inspection and copying   . Minn.Stat. § 13.01, subd. 3. Because an individual's mental impressions cannot be inspected or copied, it follows that they do not constitute government data and therefore are not personnel data. Accordingly, disclosing such mental impressions to the public does not violate the MGDPA. However, pending final disposition of any disciplinary action, the disclosure of mental impressions derived directly from personnel data recorded in some physical form or storage media, or derived directly from complaints or charges against the employee, is private data on individuals. The court of appeals concluded that the majority of Hooper's statements were either recorded in or derived from Bess's April 18, 1997 letter to respondent and Hooper's May 28, 1997 letter to sixth-grade parents. Navarre, 633 N.W.2d at 52. As discussed above, Hooper's letter disclosed private personnel data insofar as it indicated the stories from children were sometimes alarming. Bess's letter also included private personnel data in that it included information about the specific facts surrounding the complaints. A close reading of Hooper's statements to Monsour reveals that the court of appeals correctly concluded that a majority of his statements related to the data included in these two letters. Most of Hooper's statements based on the data in Bess's April 18, 1997 letter and Hooper's May 28, 1997 letter disclosed more than the mere existence or status of the complaints against respondent by describing the specific facts surrounding the complaints from parents and students rather than merely disclosing the type of complaints in a general manner. At the same time, one of the statements the district court found to violate the MGDPA, a finding affirmed by the court of appeals, only disclosed that appellant had received multiple calls about respondent. Hooper told Monsour, I've had four calls and others pending. Playing telephone tag. Bess has had more than that. As discussed above, the number of complaints is public data under Minn.Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2(a)(4). Therefore, we reverse the court of appeals as to this statement about the number of calls and hold that it did not violate the MGDPA. We now turn to Hooper's four statements that the court of appeals held were not government data because they were not derived directly from any data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated in a physical form. These statements were: (1) [respondent] had not had other problems that I know of. Nothing where anything formal had been done. (2) [Bess] was not seeing that in other classrooms. Kids move from room to room. We're not having difficulty in other rooms. and (3) district had been working with the teacher. The teacher had been responding to what teacher was, helping her learn better classroom management. While it is true, as the court of appeals held that there is no evidence in the record indicating that these three statements were derived directly from data maintained in physical form or storage media and were Hooper's personal commentary, the statements do describe the nature and character of the complaints or charges during the investigation and review and before final disposition of any disciplinary action. The discussion of other problems, lack of formal action, comparative data and working with the teacher are investigatory and dispositional in nature and stem directly from the complaints or charges. Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeals and hold that this was private personnel data, prematurely released and in violation of the MGDPA. The fourth statement that the court of appeals held did not violate the MGDPA was Hooper's statement that, it's unusual in terms of number of parents calling Dr. Bess and myself. This statement was derived directly from the personnel data contained in Bess's April 18, 1997 letter (stating This letter is to inform you of concerns expressed by parents) and Hooper's May 28, 1997 letter (stating We recognize that parents have a legitimate concern about    the Communications curriculum). This statement went beyond the existence and status of any complaints by commenting that the number of complaints was unusual. Therefore, we reverse the court of appeals as to this statement and hold that it violated the MGDPA.