Court Opinion

ID: 9700400
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:26:04.703752+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:08.557972
License: Public Domain

WILNER, Judge,
concurring.
I have joined Judge Cathell’s Opinion for the Court because I agree with its essential holdings (1) that the case is moot, (2) that the issue should nevertheless be addressed because it is likely to arise again, whether or not in the context of a surveillance tape, (3) that, in the absence of a statute to the contrary, neither the discovery rules in Title 2 of the Maryland rules nor Shenk v. Berger apply to proceedings before administrative agencies, (4) that the Maryland Public Information Act is applicable, even as to documents that may be usable as evidence in administrative proceedings, and (5) there appears to be no basis under MPIA for the county’s refusal to disclose, or its conditioning the disclosure of, the video tape in this case.
I write separately only to suggest that the General Assembly may wish to examine MPIA in this context. It may be that no change is warranted — that the law already shields those documents that should be shielded and that, as to all others, citizens should have the right to inspect public records, at least those pertaining to them, even if the records in question are gathered for use as evidence in a contested administrative proceeding and would not be discoverable in a court proceeding. I am not aware, however, that, in enacting and periodically amending MPIA, the Legislature gave much thought to the use of public documents in contested administrative proceedings, and, given the wide variety of those kinds of proceedings, at both the State and local level, it may be that some further thought should be given to the matter. Some of these documents may be created solely for use in an administrative proceeding and would not otherwise exist. The effect of applying MPIA as we do is to inject a one-sided form of *459discovery into those administrative proceedings in which a public agency is a true party in interest; the agency or, as in this case, the attorney representing a public agency, must disclose documents it has created or collected but the opposing party or attorney need not reciprocate. Maybe that is appropriate, but there may be situations in which it would not be.