Court Opinion

ID: 9656940
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:08:45.477387+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:15:08.590773
License: Public Domain

*38PAGE, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act provides that:
All government data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by a state agency, political subdivision, or statewide system shall be public unless classified by statute, or temporary classification pursuant to section 13.06, or federal law, as nonpublic or protected nonpublic, or with respect to data on individuals, as private or confidential.
Minn.Stat. § 13.03, subd. 1 (2002).
Under the act, “nonpublic data” means “data not on individuals that is made by statute or federal law applicable to the data: (a) not accessible to the public; and (b) accessible to the subject, if any, of the data.” Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subd. 9 (2002). “Protected nonpublic data” means “data not on individuals which is made by statute or federal law applicable to the data (a) not public and (b) not accessible to the subject of the data.” Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subd. 13 (2002). “Private data on individuals” means “data which is made by statute or federal law applicable to the data: (a) not public; and (b) accessible to the individual subject of that data.” Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subd. 12 (2002). “Confidential data on individuals” means “data which is made not public by statute or federal law applicable to the data and is inaccessible to the individual subject of that data.” Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subd. 3 (2002).
The Westroms contend and the court concludes that the orders and objections at issue are either protected nonpublic data or confidential data on individuals because the data contained in the orders and objections was collected by the Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) as part of an active investigation undertaken for the purpose of commencement or defense of a pending civil legal action under Minn.Stat. § 13.39, subd. 2 (2002).1 While I agree that the data was collected by DOLI, I do not agree that it was collected as part of an active investigation undertaken for purposes related to the commencement or defense of a pending civil legal action. The data collected by DOLI contained in the orders and objections at issue here consists of the names of the employers, the fact that the employers did not carry workers’ compensation insurance for various periods between April 1, 1996, and November 7, 1997, and the employers’ denials and explanations with respect to their alleged failure to carry workers’ compensation insurance. In reaching its conclusions about the status of the data, the court ignores the status of the data at the time it was collected, which was before it became part of the “active investigation.” Although the court concludes that the “orders are inextricably linked to and are the product of the data collected by DOLI during its investigation,” in fact, the data is “inextricably” linked to and collected by the Special Compensation Fund (SCF) at DOLI pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 176.185, subd. 1 (2002), and Minn. R. 5222.2002 (2003).
“Every employer * * * liable under this chapter to pay compensation shall insure payment of compensation with some insur-*39anee carrier * * * or obtain a written order from the commissioner of commerce exempting the employer from insuring liability for compensation and permitting self-insurance of the liability.” Minn.Stat. § 176.181, subd. 2 (2002). Minnesota Statutes § 176.185, subdivision (1) (2002), provides in relevant part, “[w]ithin ten days after the issuance of a policy of insurance covering the liability to pay compensation under this chapter * * *, the insurer shall file notice of coverage with the commissioner under rules and on forms prescribed by the commissioner.” The rules enacted by DOLI require insurers to file notices of coverage with the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Insurers Association, Inc. (MWCIA). Minn. R. 5222.2002 (2003). At the point this data is collected under section 176.185, subdivision 1, and the rule, there is no statute, temporary classification, or federal law classifying the data as nonpublic, protected nonpublic, private data on individuals, or confidential data on individuals. Therefore, the data is public when collected.
Indeed, according to a manual co-written by the then-acting director of the SCF, although insurance registrations and terminations are submitted to MWCIA:
The Special Compensation Fund Insurance Verification Section still remains the official source of all information regarding workers’ compensation coverage in the State of Minnesota. All inquiries for this purpose should be addressed to that section as follows:
Special Compensation Fund Insurance Verification 444 Lafayette Road St. Paul, MN 55101
Most inquires can be accomplished much more efficiently by telephone, and the number to call is:
(612) 296-2170, Ext. 27 or 28
The information available from this source includes:
1. Coverage related to a particular date or a particular period.
2. All known coverage for a particular employer.
3. The name of the insurer.
4. The Policy Number for each period of coverage.
The sources of this information are paper records maintained in the Insurance Verification Section for periods from 1970 through February 28, 1987; computer files of the workers’ Compensation Insurers Association for periods form [sic] 1983 on an unofficial basis and from March 1, 1987 that is the official record (Insurance Verification has a terminal in the office to obtain this information.); and information extracted from the actuarial files the Workers’ Compensation Insurers Association maintains on all covered employers. All sources are checked, when necessary, but if the only source of information available is the actuarial files, there can be considerable delays if the particular file needed is out for auditing.
Insurance Verification will provide a telephone response whenever possible, followed up with a written record in all cases. If any doubt exists as to the proper insurer for an employer, Insurance Verification should be contacted prior to filing a Claim Petition or Petition for Contribution.
Leo M. Eide & William R. Howard, A Primer on the Special Compensation Fund 56-58, in Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, Workers’ Compensation (1987).
Thus, it is clear that before the “active investigation” began, the names of the employers and information with respect to the employers’ lack of coverage was in *40DOLI’s possession and constituted public data under Minn.Stat. § 13.03, subd. 1. The fact that this data was used in an active investigation commenced after it was collected does not convert that public data into either protected nonpublic data or confidential data on individuals.
As the Eide/Howard manual points out, the data at issue is public and is available to any member of the public merely by placing a telephone call to the SCF. It would be anomalous to, on one hand, .have the data classified as public and available to the public by telephone while, on the other hand, have it classified as either protected nonpublic data or confidential data on individuals because it is contained in an order notifying the employer of a workers’ compensation insurance coverage violation. Placing public data into an order issued as part of a pending civil legal action does not cause the data to cease being public. We recently stated that the Data Practices Act is “intended to promote the general welfare by making government information accessible to the people.” Star Tribune Co. v. Univ. of Minn. Bd. of Regents, 683 N.W.2d 274, 286 (2004). In the end, the court’s interpretation of section 13.39, subdivision 2, in this case ill serves the cause of openness in government. Therefore, I would reverse the court of appeals and reinstate the district court orders dismissing the Westroms’ actions.2

. Section 13.39, subdivision 2, provides:
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), data collected by state agencies, political subdivisions, or statewide systems as part of an active investigation undertaken for the purpose of the commencement or defense of a pending civil legal action, or which are retained in anticipation of a pending civil legal action, are classified as protected nonpublic data pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 13, in the case of data not on individuals and confidential pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 3, in the case of data on individuals.

. While I believe that the court s analysis of the section 13.39 language classifying data collected as part of an active investigation as protected nonpublic or confidential is faulty, I do not intend to discuss that analysis here,