Opinion ID: 2828917
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bass’s Complaint

Text: Bass alleges that she served as a negotiator and attorney for Law Enforcement Labor Services, Minnesota’s largest law enforcement union, beginning in 2005 and ending in 2011. Since March 2005, her personal information was viewed via name search more than 750 times by approximately 340 government personnel. She alleges that she does not have a criminal record and has committed no crimes that could justify the accesses. She claims not only that various law enforcement personnel accessed her data without a permissible purpose, but also that individuals in the Anoka, Hennepin, and Stearns County Attorney offices accessed her data in preparation for hearings or court proceedings that were adverse to her clients. Bass’s audit shows frequent late-night accesses. For example, during the period within the statute of limitations, 61 of the 278 accesses occurred between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. The audit also reveals numerous suspicious access patterns. For example, on January 8, 2007, there were 19 accesses of Bass’s personal information at various times throughout the day through stations from nine different agencies from around the state. The next day, there were 25 accesses throughout the day through seven different agencies from around the state. The day after that, there were 20 accesses throughout the day through eight different agencies throughout the state. Suspicious access patterns continued during the period within the statute of limitations. For example, on May 5, 2009, there were four accesses of Bass’s -24- personal information by the Wayzata PD8 between 7:08 and 7:09 a.m., an access by the Two Harbors PD at 7:38 a.m., two accesses by the St. Anthony PD at 9:16 a.m., and two accesses by the Minneapolis PD at 11:47 a.m. There are 69 agencies9 with alleged violations during the limitations period. Of those, 38 agencies10 did not have a history of frequent suspicious accesses before the limitations period and did not, during the limitations period, engage in multiple 8 Hereinafter we abbreviate “police department” to “PD.” 9 These include the Alexandria PD, Anoka County Attorney, Anoka County Sheriff, Anoka Courts, Anoka PD, Appleton PD, Bemidji PD, Benton County Sheriff, Big Lake PD, Blaine PD, Bloomington PD, Brooklyn Center PD, Burnsville PD, Champlin PD, Clay County Sheriff, Crow Wing County Sheriff, Dakota County Sheriff, Dayton PD, Dodge County Sheriff, Eagan PD, Elk River PD, Fairmont PD, Faribault PD, Farmington PD, Fridley PD, Gaylord PD, Hennepin County Attorney, Hennepin County Sheriff, Houston County Sheriff, Jackson PD, Jordan PD, Kandiyohi County Sheriff, Kasson PD, Maple Grove PD, Marshall PD, Minneapolis PD, Minnetonka PD, Minnetrista PD, Moorhead PD, Mounds View PD, New Hope PD, North St. Paul PD, Oakdale PD, Osseo PD, Pipestone County Sheriff, Plymouth PD, Prior Lake PD, Ramsey County Dispatch Center, Rice County Sheriff, Richfield PD, Robbinsdale PD, Roseville PD, Sartell PD, Scott County Sheriff, Shakopee PD, Sherburne County Sheriff, Sleepy Eye PD, St. Anthony PD, St. Cloud PD, St. Francis PD, St. Louis Park PD, Stearns County Attorney, Stearns County Sheriff, Stillwater PD, Two Harbors PD, Washington County Sheriff, Wayzata PD, Winona PD, and Wright County Sheriff. 10 These include the Alexandria PD, Anoka County Attorney, Anoka Courts, Anoka PD, Appleton PD, Blaine PD, Bloomington PD, Burnsville PD, Clay County Sheriff, Crow Wing County Sheriff, Dakota County Sheriff, Dayton PD, Dodge County Sheriff, Eagan PD, Fairmont PD, Faribault PD, Farmington PD, Fridley PD, Hennepin County Attorney, Hennepin County Sheriff, Jackson PD, Jordan PD, Kandiyohi County Sheriff, Minnetonka PD, Minnetrista PD, North St. Paul PD, Plymouth PD, Prior Lake PD, Rice County Sheriff, Richfield PD, Robbinsdale PD, Roseville PD, Sartell PD, Scott County Sheriff, Sleepy Eye PD, St. Louis Park PD, Stearns County Attorney, and Winona PD. -25- late-night accesses or participate in any suspicious access patterns. To infer that the particular Defendants allegedly responsible for these non-suspicious accesses had impermissible purposes would require sheer conjecture rooted solely in the blanket allegations of misconduct, Bass’s professional interactions with law enforcement personnel in general, and the high volume of collective accesses. Bass’s allegations against the Local Entities and Law Enforcement Does responsible for accesses through those agencies’ stations thus fail to state a claim for relief. Information accesses by Law Enforcement Does through the remaining 31 agencies11 fall into one of three categories: 1) accesses on the same day as or within a few hours of accesses by other, unrelated entities during the limitations period; 2) multiple late-night accesses during the limitations period; or 3) a history of frequent suspicious accesses fitting the above criteria, even if prior to the limitations period, coupled with accesses within the limitations period. Local Entities have not offered an “obvious alternative explanation” that renders these accesses non-suspicious. Local Entities argue, for example, that officers may have been looking up Bass’s information to verify her identity prior to meetings with Bass. This explanation generally would not justify the accesses, since a police officer’s union activities are not within his or her official government duties. Nor is this explanation obviously consistent with multiple close-in-time look-ups through unrelated agencies. The other law enforcement tasks that Local Entities proffer for the look-ups—such as approval of gun permits; computer forensics investigations; and verification of the 11 These include the Anoka County Sheriff, Bemidji PD, Benton County Sheriff, Big Lake PD, Brooklyn Center PD, Champlin PD, Elk River PD, Gaylord PD, Houston County Sheriff, Kasson PD, Maple Grove PD, Marshall PD, Minneapolis PD, Moorhead PD, Mounds View PD, New Hope PD, Oakdale PD, Osseo PD, Pipestone County Sheriff, Ramsey County Dispatch Center, Shakopee PD, Sherburne County Sheriff, St. Anthony PD, St. Cloud PD, St. Francis PD, Stearns County Sheriff, Stillwater PD, Two Harbors PD, Washington County Sheriff, Wayzata PD, and Wright County Sheriff. -26- identity of witnesses, victims, or drivers after a license-plate check—may be plausible, but they are not sufficiently convincing to undermine the reasonable inference of impermissible purpose that arises from the multiple late-night look-ups and suspicious access patterns reflected in the audit. Local Entities also note that law enforcement personnel frequently work latenight shifts and perform online investigative work throughout the night. But if we accept, as we must, Bass’s allegation that she committed no crimes, she was unlikely to be the subject of any investigation by law enforcement, much less numerous law enforcement agencies from across the state. The possibility that discovery will reveal that Bass was, in fact, the subject of a state-wide investigation, or separate investigations by dozens of different agencies, is not sufficiently convincing an explanation to render her claims implausible. Thus, allegations against all Law Enforcement Does responsible for any accesses within the limitations window through the remaining 31 agencies’ stations state facially plausible claims for relief. Although not all of the accesses during the limitations period through these agencies’ stations occurred during late-night or earlymorning hours or as part of a suspicious access pattern, the fact that any suspicious accesses occurred through these agencies render suspect the other accesses through their stations. Law Enforcement Does at these agencies may have lacked sufficient training to deter misuse. Furthermore, the various accesses may have been performed by the same person, or that person may have prompted his or her coworkers to query Bass’s information. Bass’s allegations related to all of the accesses within the limitations period through these remaining 31 agencies state plausible claims for relief, and so we reverse the dismissal of the timely claims against Law Enforcement -27- Does responsible for these accesses. The dismissal of her claims against all other Law Enforcement Does is affirmed.12 Local Entities have offered no additional arguments for why they are not liable for individual Law Enforcement Does’ accesses through their agencies’ stations. We therefore reverse the dismissal of the timely claims against the following Local Entities: Anoka County, City of Bemidji, Benton County, City of Big Lake, City of Brooklyn Center, City of Champlin, City of Elk River, City of Gaylord, Houston County, City of Kasson, City of Maple Grove, City of Marshall, City of Minneapolis, City of Moorhead, City of Mounds View, City of New Hope, City of Oakdale, City of Osseo, Pipestone County, Ramsey County, City of Shakopee, Sherburne County, City of St. Anthony, City of St. Cloud, City of St. Francis, Stearns County, City of Stillwater, City of Two Harbors, Washington County, City of Wayzata, and Wright County. The dismissal of Bass’s claims against all other Local Entities is affirmed.