Opinion ID: 2331490
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Cost of Redaction

Text: The defendant argues that the redaction of the names of the complainants and police officers against whom the complaints were made requires an extraordinary effort and that DARE should bear the cost of such effort. In support of its position, defendant relies on Providence Journal Co. v. Rodgers, 711 A.2d 1131, 1139 (R.I.1998), in which we observed that § 38-2-4(a) and (b), require that a party seeking production of public records pay the costs relating to copying, search and retrieval of such documents. Based on those subsections, we determined that the costs of redaction should be borne by the requesting party because it is part of the process of retrieving and producing the requested documents. See id. In our decision, however, we noted that the General Assembly, by enacting legislation, could make requested public records available to a requesting party free of cost. See id. Shortly thereafter, the 1998 amendments to the APRA went into effect. [8] The portion of the APRA entitled Cost was amended to permit a trial justice to waive costs charged for search or retrieval if it determines that the information requested is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government   . Section 38-2-4(e), as amended by P.L.1998, ch. 378, § 1. Thus, interpreting this amendment in context with our decision in Rodgers, we conclude that, although the requesting party bears the cost of redaction as part of the search and retrieval costs, a trial judge has discretion towaive those costs when the request is in the public interest and is likely to contribute to the public understanding or operation of government. See § 38-2-4(e). The question of whether the production by defendant of the requested documents was in the public interest presented a mixed question of law and fact. A mixed question of law and fact is one in which the rule of law is undisputed, and the issue is whether the facts satisfy the statutory standard. Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 289 n.19, 102 S.Ct. 1781, 1790 n.19, 72 L.Ed.2d 66, 80 n.19 (1982). In this case, the rule of law is clear. A trial justice may waive costs if the request is in the public interest and is likely to contribute to the public understanding of government. See § 38-2-4(e). The only issue was whether DARE's request satisfied the standard of being in the public interest. Because this Court reviews mixed questions of law and fact with the same amount of deference that we accord to a trial justice's findings of fact, we will not overturn a trial justice's findings of fact absent a showing that the trial justice overlooked or misconceived material evidence or was otherwise clearly wrong. See Associated Builders & Contractors of Rhode Island, Inc. v. Department of Administration, 787 A.2d 1179, 1184 (R.I.2002). The defendant has made no showing that the trial justice's decision that DARE's request was in the public interest resulted from his misconceiving or overlooking evidence or was otherwise clearly wrong. Therefore, we affirm the trial justice's decision to waive the costs of producing the requested records.