Tulsa World: Appeals court sends open records lawsuit back to judge

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Appeals court sends open records lawsuit back to judge

By World Staff
Published: 8/14/2007 11:33 AM
Last Modified: 8/14/2007 11:33 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A state appeals court has reversed and remanded an Oklahoma County judge's ruling in an open records lawsuit by the Tulsa World against the Department of Public Safety.

The World filed the lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court in 2001, seeking computerized and paper records on use of force, stops, searches and agency procedures. The World sought the records to review the agency's treatment of minorities who were stopped and searched, among other issues.

Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki L. Robertson granted a motion for summary judgment in 2005, ruling that five types of records sought by the World were open records and three were not. Robertson ruled that computerized traffic citation data, warning data and the department's policies and procedures manual were not open records.

The World and DPS both appealed Robertson's order and a three-judge panel of the Court of Civil Appeals issued its ruling in the case Monday.

The ruling noted that Robertson's order granting summary judgment was in error because numerous facts in the case are in dispute.

It states that the Open Records Act requires state agencies to segregate open records from those that are closed.

It also notes that not all records possessed by a law enforcement agency fall under a limited list of law enforcement records required to be made public. In ruling that the entire operations manual is not an open record, Robertson erred, the court said.

It returned that ruling to Robertson for further proceedings.

The court also ruled that Robertson's findings regarding computerized data were flawed and reversed her ruling, sending the matter back for trial.

When it denied the World's request for the records, the Department of Public Safety said the data did not exist in the form requested, that it was a burden to produce and that federal law prohibited the production of the data if it existed.

The court found that the department's excuses for not providing the data were invalid.

By World Staff

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