Court Opinion

ID: 9663955
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:56:01.249409+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:59.542493
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.
(dissenting). I write because the majority opinion fails to follow the principles and procedures the legislature and the court have set forth and because it reaches the wrong result.
I would affirm the decision of the court of appeals. I agree with the court of appeals that a prosecutor's closed case files are records subject to the public records law. I also agree with the court of appeals that this case should be remanded to the circuit court to conduct an in camera inspection of the material and to perform the balancing test necessary to determine whether to give the petitioner access to the files. State ex rel. Youmans v. Owens, 28 Wis. 2d 672, 681-82, 137 N.W.2d 470 (1965).
J — H
The legislature has established a presumption of complete public access to government records, consistent *438with the conduct of government business. Section 19.31, Stats. 1989-90. Furthermore, sec. 19.35(l)(a), Stats. 1989-90, specifically states "[e]xcept as otherwise provided by law, any requester has a right to inspect any record." The right to inspect, however, is, as we have stated in numerous cases, not absolute. Inspection may be denied when there is a clear statutory exception,1 when a limitation exists at common law,2 or when the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the right to inspect. Hathaway v. Joint School District, 116 Wis. 2d 388, 397, 342 N.W.2d 682 (1984).
This case involves the petitioner's request to inspect a prosecutor's closed case files concerning the petitioner.
No statute excepts these files from the public records law. The majority concludes that a common law exception protects the prosecutor's files from being open to public inspection. The majority reaches this conclusion by relying on cases involving open, not closed, case files.3 The reasons for protecting a prosecutor's open case files from public inspection are not applicable to protecting a prosecutor's closed case files. Hence the cases concerning open files upon which the majority *439relies do not govern closed case files. The majority cites no case that discusses a common law limitation on public inspection of a prosecutor's closed case files, the parties cite no such case, and I have found none. Accordingly I conclude that no common law exception exists for a prosecutor's closed case files.
Even if no statutory or common law rule bars public access to an entire class of documents, the petitioner does not necessarily get access to the documents. Documents are not open to inspection under the public records law if the harmful effect on the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public's right to access to that information. Hathaway v. Joint School District, 16 Wis. 2d 388, 397, 342 N.W.2d 682 (1984); State ex rel. Youmans v. Owens, 28 Wis. 2d 672, 681, 137 N.W.2d 470 (1965).
H HH
The majority opinion, without explanation or citation to authority, concludes that the prosecutor had no obligation to respond to the written request for access. Majority op. at 437. Under the procedure set forth by statute, sec. 19.35(4), Stats. 1989-90, and our prior cases, the custodian of the records (here the prosecutor) is obliged to state specific reasons for refusing to allow inspection of the documents. If the custodian gives no reason or insufficient reason, a writ of mandamus compelling the production of records must issue. Fox v. Bock, 149 Wis. 2d 403, 415-16, 438 N.W.2d 589 (1989); Newspapers, Inc. v. Breier, 89 Wis. 2d 417, 427, 279 N.W. 179 (1979); State ex rel. Youmans v. Owens, 28 Wis. 2d 672, 682, 137 N.W.2d 470 (1965); Oshkosh Northwestern Co. v. Oshkosh Library, 125 Wis. 2d 480, 483, 373 N.W.2d 459 (Ct. App. 1985).
*440The prosecutor in this case failed to give any reason for his denial of access. The prosecutor's petition for review and reply brief admit that the court could choose to grant the petitioner a victory based on the prosecutor's failure to give an explanation.4 The court of appeals properly decided to remand the case for an in camera inspection.
For the reasons set forth, I would remand the case to the circuit court to conduct an in camera inspection of the records.
I am authorized to state that Chief Justice Heffer-nan joins this dissent.
*440aPER CURIAM (on motion for reconsideration). Harlan Richards moved this court for reconsideration of its decision in State of Wisconsin ex rel. Richards, 165 Wis. 2d 429, 477 N.W.2d 608 (1991). The Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council filed a statement in support of the motion for reconsideration. We deny the motion for reconsideration without costs.
We file this memorandum on the motion for reconsideration to advise litigants of the court's procedure when an appellant or petitioner files a notice of dismissal pursuant to sec. 809.18.
This case was accepted on briefs for review. The opinion of the court on the matter was filed on December 10, 1991.
After all briefs were filed and the matter was decided by the court and assigned to a justice to write the court's opinion, the parties filed a stipulation to dismiss the review which the court declined to do under sec. (Rule) 809.63, Stats. The court on February 18, 1992 adopted an amendment to its Internal Operating Procedures codifying the procedure followed in this case to-wit:
II. DECISIONAL PROCESS
L. Miscellaneous
4. Voluntary Dismissal. If a notice of voluntary dismissal of a proceeding on a petition for review, petition for bypass or certification or of an original action or supervisory writ proceeding is filed before all of the briefs in the proceeding are filed, the chief justice may act on the notice; if a notice of voluntary *440bdismissal is filed after all of the briefs in the proceeding are filed, the chief justice shall bring the notice to the court for action.
The court having considered the Motion for Reconsideration filed on December 18, 1991, by Harlan Richards and the letter response of the State of Wisconsin, and the statement in support of the motion for reconsideration by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, and the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council filed on January 2, 1992;
IT IS ORDERED that the Motion for Reconsideration is denied, without costs.

Section 19.36(1), Stats. 1989-90.

Section 19.35(1)(a), Stats. 1989-90.

Matter of State ex rel. Lynch v. County Court, 82 Wis. 2d 454, 262 N.W.2d 773 (1978) (preliminary hearing); Britton v. State, 44 Wis. 2d 109, 170 N.W.2d 785 (1969) (postconviction proceedings; constitutional right to access to exculpatory evidence); State v. Herman, 219 Wis. 267, 262 N.W. 718 (1935) (John Doe proceeding before trial); State ex rel. Spencer v. Freedy, 198 Wis. 388, 223 N.W. 861 (1929) (investigation before prosecution); In re Wisconsin Family Counseling Services v. State, 95 Wis. 2d 670, 291 N.W.2d 631 (Ct. App. 1980) (John Doe investigation and open case files); 74 O.A.G. 4, 7 (1985) (prior to completion of trial).

The prosecutor's petition for review (p.3) explains that "the procedural landscape in this public records case is not pretty, but the legal issue is too important to let go."