Opinion ID: 615928
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Wisconsin's Open Records Law

Text: The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Hutchins, finding that Sheriff Clarke violated Wisconsin's Open Records Law by failing to provide notice and failing to conduct a balancing test before orally discussing the contents of Hutchins' disciplinary file. The appellants argue that the district court erred when it applied Wisconsin's Open Records Law to Sheriff Clarke's oral reference to Hutchins' disciplinary record. We agree and can dispose of this issue without delving much into the district court's analysis or the parties' arguments; Wisconsin's Open Records Law simply does not apply to the facts of this particular case, and the plaintiffs have no claim under the statute. Wisconsin's Open Records Law was enacted to provide the public with the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of the government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them. Wis. Stat. § 19.31. The statute provides that except as otherwise provided by law, any requester has a right to inspect any record. Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(a). With regard to a record containing information about an employee's disciplinary history, as in this case, the statute provides that if the authority decides to permit access to the requested record, the authority shall serve written notice on the employee. Wis. Stat. § 19.356(2)(a). When deciding whether to open a record, the authority must conduct a balancing test to weigh the public interest in protecting its citizens' reputations and privacy against the strong public interest in maintaining open records. Woznicki v. Erickson, 202 Wis.2d 178, 549 N.W.2d 699, 703 (1996). Once the employee receives notice, the employee then has the option of seeking a court order to restrain the authority from permitting access to the record. Wis. Stat. § 19.356(4). Here, the facts in the record show that Sheriff Clarke called into a radio show and, spontaneously or not, discussed details regarding Hutchins' disciplinary history. Nothing from this set of facts leads us to the conclusion that Wisconsin's Open Records Law should be invoked. There was no request to inspect Hutchins' disciplinary record, no permission granted, and no balancing test undertaken. [1] Perhaps the plaintiffs themselves said it best in their own motion for summary judgment: Compounding the problem is the undisputed fact that nobody sought access to Hutchins' personnel file in the first place. As there was no `request,' there was nothing to `balance,' and the release of such information must be seen for what it wasan attempt to smear Hutchins in front of the audience of the Eric Von Show.... While the plaintiffs have since changed their tune, we find this initial argument much more persuasive than their current one. While Wisconsin courts have not yet considered this issue, we believe our opinion is consistent with the trajectory of Wisconsin case law. Prior to the decision in Woznicki v. Erickson , the Open Records Law only authorized a requester to bring an action for mandamus compelling a custodian to release a record under Wis. Stat. § 19.37. Woznicki changed this, holding that an employee who wishes to keep the authority from disclosing the requested information may also bring an action under the statute. The Open Records Law was then amended to reflect the employee's right to sue under these circumstances. Hutchins would have us take this a step further and create a cause of action when the procedures in the Open Records Law were not followed, thus turning the statute into some kind of enforceable due process right. We must reject Hutchins' interpretation of the Open Records Law because it vastly expands the causes of actions under the statute. Although Wisconsin's Open Records Law is not applicable here, we note that Hutchins could have (and in some cases did) brought his complaint under a number of more applicable theories, including but not limited to defamation, right of privacy, or retaliation, but Wisconsin's Open Records Law has no application here. While we find Sheriff Clarke's on-air comments regarding Hutchins' disciplinary history insensitive, not to mention inaccurate, we cannot say that his actions were in violation of Wisconsin's Open Records Act, and we reverse the decision of the district court on this issue.