Court Opinion

ID: 9665900
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:59:14.795788+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:20.336778
License: Public Domain

WAHL, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
In my opinion, the statutes at issue require the final decision of the board be made public and do not allow this court to select which portions should be redacted from the document.
The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minn.Stat. § 13.41, subd. 4 (1986), provides that “findings of fact, conclusions of law and specification of the final disciplinary action contained in the record of the disciplinary action are classified as public * * * Nothing has persuaded me that this statute does not apply to this case, both in its requirement that the final document be public, and in its specification of the findings of fact and conclusions of law as public. The Data Practices Act reflects the legislature's choice as how to best balance the right to privacy and the public’s need to know. Generally, all agency decisions in contested cases are required to be made public under the Administrative Procedure Act, Minn.Stat. ch. 14 (1986). Specifically, every decision rendered by an agency in a contested case is required to be in writing, “and shall include the agency’s findings of fact and conclusions on all material issues.” Minn.Stat. § 14.62, subd. 1 (1986).
These statutes not only require the final decision be made public but also specifically require findings of fact and conclusions of law on all material issues also be made public. There are no exceptions for contested issues ultimately resolved in favor *52of the respondent. The majority’s reliance on administrative rules to create this exception is misplaced.
Minnesota Rule 5615.1100 (1987) require the final decision of the board to contain a statement of the findings, a determination of the issues presented, and the penalty, if any, or decision of the board. The majority counteracts this explicit language by relying on the phrase “adverse to a party,” and argues that issues which do not result in discipline cannot be considered as adverse, since the board is not a party. This position ignores the definition of “party” governing the rule, provided in Minn.R. 5615.-0100, subp. 4 (1987): “ ‘Party’ includes the board, the respondent, and any person * * * who has been permitted to appear in the proceeding.” Under the terms of the rule, a decision may in fact be adverse to the board and therefore is to be made public.
The majority’s position also makes the language of the rule meaningless. Under the holding of the majority, issues resolved in favor of the respondent are not to be included in the final decision, despite the clear requirement that the issues presented and the board’s decision must be in writing.
Finally, the majority places undue weight on the use of the term “dismissed” in this case. The allegations of sexual misconduct were not frivolous, in fact the board found that the alleged conduct had occurred and was harmful to at least three of the complaining women. No penalty was imposed, however, because any penalty requires the affirmative vote of six members of the board. Minn.R. 5615.1000, subp. 1 (1987). The board’s final decision sets out, in accordance with both the applicable statutes and rule, the findings of fact regarding the allegations of sexual misconduct, the issues raised by the allegations, and the board’s final decision and the reasons therefor. Two supplemental memoranda set forth the bases upon which four members of the board felt no penalty was warranted and four members felt penalty was appropriate. Dismissal of the charges was the result of the stalemate rather than a conclusion that the allegations were unfounded, as the majority implies. The result compelled by the statutes is that the decision be made public.
Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent to the holding that data related to dismissed complaints in a contested case disciplinary action cannot properly be made public in the Board’s final decision.