Opinion ID: 2627231
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ripeness and Mootness

Text: At various points in this case, Kline has argued that CHPP's claims were unripe and that they were moot. Following his logic as much as we are able, his idea of the appropriate point in time for vindication of a constitutional privacy right appears to be the instant it is invaded, not a nanosecond before or after. In other words, until actual invasion, any claim to protect the right is unripe; as soon as the invasion occurs, any claim to protect the right is moot. We cannot agree with Kline's position. Although it is our function to determine real rather than speculative or abstract controversies, see Smith v. Martens, 279 Kan. 242, 244-45, 106 P.3d 28 (2005); Blank v. Chawla, 234 Kan. 975, 978, 678 P.2d 162 (1984) (citing Anderson v. Carder, 159 Kan. 1, 4, 150 P.2d 754 [1944]), the issue of whether Kline's and his subordinates' handling of the patient records threatens or invaded patients' privacy rights presents us with a real controversy. We must decide whether that handling constituted unlawful performance of a public duty or unlawful exercise of public office and whether Kline has engaged in contemptuous or otherwise sanctionable conduct.