Opinion ID: 2581340
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Authority of District Court to Redact

Text: [¶ 30] Allsop contends that the district court does not have authority to redact a public record, such as the Cox Report, so as to render it subject to disclosure. Allsop maintains that the governing statutes do not provide for such a remedy. Actually, the statutes do not specifically provide for any particular remedies. It most certainly would run afoul of the applicable principles of statutory construction to conclude that the passage of the WPRA was for naught because the legislature failed to provide for specific sorts of remedies. We feel safe in concluding that the legislature intended for the courts to use those traditional judicial remedies that are available, as well as to fashion new ones that suit the circumstances which the statute was intended to remediate. Sheridan Newspapers, 660 P.2d at 798-99. Redaction is one such remedy. We tacitly approved of its use in Sheridan Newspapers, though the precise issue raised here was not raised in that case. Also see Department of Transportation, 908 P.2d at 972 n. 5. We take this opportunity to hold that a district court may use redaction as one of the remedies to vindicate the public's interests in access to public records. That redaction is an appropriate tool to be used in circumstances such as these is well established in case law, as well as in statutes. See Providence Journal Company v. Convention Center Authority, 774 A.2d 40 (R.I.2001); Bardes v. Todd, 139 Ohio App.3d 938, 746 N.E.2d 229, 234 (2000); Press of Atlantic City v. Ocean County Joint Insurance Fund, 337 N.J.Super. 480, 767 A.2d 533, 539 (2000); Cowles Publishing Company v. Spokane Police Department, 139 Wash.2d 472, 987 P.2d 620, 622-23 (1999); KPNX TV v. Superior Court in and for County of Yuma, 183 Ariz. 589, 905 P.2d 598, 603 (1995); 37A Am.Jur.2d Freedom of Information Acts § 576 (1994); and 76 C.J.S. Records § 124 (1994). Although the parallel federal statute specifically provides for it, that statutory provision represents a legislative adoption of a court created remedy.