Amberg v. City of Dearborn, 859 N.W.2d 674

859 N.W.2d 674

Mich.

2014

AMBERG v CITY OF DEARBORN

Docket No. 149242

Supreme Court of Michigan

December 16, 2014

497 MICH 28

James Amberg brought an action in the Wayne Circuit Court against the city of Dearborn and the Dearborn Police Department, seeking copies of video surveillance recordings created by private entities, Tim Hortons, Inc., and The Wendy‘s Company, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), MCL 15.231 et seq. Plaintiff, an attorney, sought the recordings in relation to pending misdemeanor criminal proceedings against a client. Defendants initially refused to turn over the recordings, asserting that they were not subject to FOIA because the recordings were not public records. After plaintiff brought suit, defendants produced the rеcordings and moved for summary disposition. The court, Daniel P. Ryan, J., granted summary disposition in favor of defendants. Plaintiff appealed. The Court of Appeals, STEPHENS and RIORDAN, JJ. (BECKERING, P.J., concurring), affirmed in an unpublished opinion per curiam, issued March 25, 2014 (Docket No. 311722). Plaintiff sought leave to appeal.

In a unanimous memorandum opinion, the Supreme Court, in lieu of granting leave to appeal and without hearing oral argument, held:

Except under certain specifically delineated exceptions, a person who provides a public body‘s FOIA coordinator with a written request that describes a public record sufficiently to enable the public body to find the public record is entitled to inspect, copy, or receive copies of the requested public record. A public record is a writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the perfоrmance of an official function from the time it is created. The word “writing” is defined in FOIA as any means of recording, including pictures, sounds, or combinations thereof. In this case, the parties did not dispute that the recordings were writings within the meaning of FOIA and that the recordings were retained by or in the possession of defendants, who are public bodies. Rather, the parties disputed whether the recordings were possessed or retained by defendants in the performance of an official function from the time they were created. The phrase “from the time it is created” in the definition of a publiс record under FOIA was included to make clear that FOIA applied to records created before FOIA took effect. And the fact that the documents were created by private entities does not insulate them from FOIA. Defendants collected the recordings as evidence to support their decision to issue a citation. Accordingly, the recordings were public records because they were in the possession of or retained by defendants in the performance of an official function, and the circuit court erred by granting defendants’ motion for summary disposition. The fаct that plaintiff‘s substantive claim was rendered moot by disclosure of the records after plaintiff commenced the circuit court action was not determinative of plaintiff‘s entitlement to fees and costs under MCL 15.240(6). Contrary to the conclusion of the Court of Appeals, plaintiff did not abandоn his claim for fees and costs. On remand, plaintiff‘s action can proceed in the circuit court for consideration, on a proper motion, of whether he is entitled to costs and fees under MCL 15.240(6).

Reversed and remanded for entry of an order denying defendants’ motion for summary disposition and fоr further proceedings. Leave to appeal denied in all other respects.

STATUTES - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - VIDEO SURVEILLANCE RECORDINGS CREATED BY PRIVATE ENTITIES.

A video surveillance recording created by a private entity but collected and retained or in the possession of a public body as evidence to support a decision to issue a criminаl ‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍citation is a public record in the possession of or retained by the public body in the performance of an official function and is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.231 et seq., unless a specific statutory exemption applies.

Maze Legal Group, PC (by William J. Maze), for plaintiff.

Laurie M. Ellerbrake and Debra A. Walling for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION. We consider in this case whether copies of video surveillance recordings created by third partiеs but received by defendants during the course of pending criminal misdemeanor proceedings constitute “public records” within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), MCL 15.231 et seq., thus requiring their disclosure by defendants. For the reasons stated in this opinion, we conclude that, contrary to the lower courts’ opinions, the video surveillanсe recordings are public records within the meaning of FOIA. Accordingly, and in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand this case to the Wayne Circuit Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The purpose of FOIA is to providе to the people of Michigan “full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and public employees,” thereby allowing them to “fully participate in the democratic procеss.” MCL 15.231(2). As a result, except under certain specifically delineated exceptions, see MCL 15.243, a person who “provid[es] a public body‘s FOIA coordinator with a written request that describes a public record sufficiently to enable the public body to find the public record” is entitled “to inspeсt, copy, or receive copies of the requested public record of the public body.” MCL 15.233(1). See also Coblentz v City of Novi, 475 Mich 558, 573; 719 NW2d 73 (2006) (“A FOIA request must be fulfilled unless MCL 15.243 lists an applicable specific exemption.“). The FOIA further defines “public record” as “a writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the performаnce of an official function, from the time it is created....” MCL 15.232(e). “Writing,” in turn, is defined broadly to include any “means of recording,” including “pictures” and “sounds... or combinations thereof....” MCL 15.232(h).

In this case, plaintiff initiated a FOIA request, and ultimately this FOIA lawsuit, to receive materials related to pending criminal proceedings thаt were in defendants’ possession, including video surveillance recordings created by private businesses. Defendants assert that the surveillance ‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍recordings are not public records within the meaning of FOIA and, as a result, did not need to be disclosed to plaintiff under MCL 15.233(1). The Wayne Circuit Court agreed with defendants and granted summary disposition in their favor. Plaintiff appealed by right, and the Court of Appeals affirmed in a split decision. Amberg v Dearborn, unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, issued March 25, 2014 (Docket No. 311722).

The parties do not dispute that video recordings are “writings” within the meaning of FOIA. Nor do thеy dispute that these particular video surveillance recordings are “in the possession of” and “retained by” defendants, both of which are public bodies. What is in dispute is whether the recordings were in the possession of or retained by defendants “in the performance of an official functiоn, from the time [they were] created.” MCL 15.232(e).¹ This requirement makes clear that the mere possession of the recordings by defendants is not sufficient to make them public records. Detroit News, Inc v Detroit, 204 Mich App 720, 724-725; 516 NW2d 151 (1994). However, because FOIA “does not require that the record[s] be created by the public body,” that the recordings were сreated by private entities does not necessarily insulate the records from FOIA. Id. at 724.

In short, what ultimately determines whether records in the possession of a public body are public records within the meaning of FOIA is whether the public body prepared, owned, used, possessed, or retained them in the performance of an official function. On this question, we agree with the dissenting Court of Appeals judge that the recordings at issue in this case were public records because they were in the possession of or retained by defendants “in the performance of an official function, from the time [they were] created.” MCL 15.232(e). The undisputed facts show that defendants received copies of the recordings as relevant evidence in a pending misdemeanor criminal matter.² The Court of Appeals majority claimed that the defendants did not use the recordings in the performancе of an official function—specifically, their issuance of a criminal misdemeanor citation—because they did not obtain the recordings until after they issued the citation. While this may be true, the citation nevertheless remained pending when defendants received the recordings, and the issuance of the citation is not the only official function that we must consider. In other words, even if the recordings did not factor into defendants’ decision to issue a citation, they were nevertheless collected as evidence by defendants to support that decision. Indeed, that the relevant police file (which was disclosed to plaintiff) referred to the recordings (and to how defendants acquired them) underscores defendants’ official purpose in acquiring them. As a result,

the recordings are public records within the meaning of FOIA, and defendants ‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍were required to produce them in rеsponse to plaintiff‘s FOIA request.³ The circuit court, therefore, erred when it granted defendants’ motion for summary disposition.

Defendants also claim that this case has been rendered moot by their eventual release of the recordings to plaintiff. However, “[t]he mere fact that plaintiff‘s substantivе claim under the FOIA was rendered moot by disclosure of the records after plaintiff commenced the circuit court action is not determinative of plaintiff‘s entitlement to fees and costs under MCL 15.240(6).” Thomas v New Baltimore, 254 Mich App 196, 202; 657 NW2d 530 (2002).⁴ MCL 15.240(6) allows a plaintiff to recover “reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs,

and disbursements” in the еvent “a person asserting the right to... receive a copy of all or a portion of a public record prevails” in a FOIA action. To “prevail” in a FOIA action within the meaning of MCL 15.240(6), a court must conclude that “the action was reasonably necessary to compel the disclosurе [of public records], and [that] the action had a substantial causative effect on the delivery of the information to the plaintiff.” Scharret v City of Berkley, 249 Mich App 405, 414; 642 NW2d 685 (2002) (emphasis omitted).

The Court of Appeals unanimously agreed that plaintiff is precluded from recovering under MCL 15.240(6) for allegedly abandoning those claims. Contrary to the Court of Apрeals’ assertion, however, plaintiff never abandoned his claim for fees and costs under MCL 15.240(6). Indeed, he sought fees and costs in his complaint, in his brief in opposition to defendants’ motion for summary disposition, in his brief in the Court of Appeals, and in his application for leave to appeаl in this Court. Now that this Court orders defendants’ motion for summary disposition to be denied, plaintiff‘s action can proceed in the Wayne Circuit Court for consideration, on a proper motion, of whether he is entitled to costs and fees under MCL 15.240(6).⁵

We therefore reverse the judgments of the lower cоurts and remand this case to the Wayne Circuit Court for entry of an order denying defendants’ motion for summary disposition and for further ‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion, including, on a proper motion, a determination whether plaintiff is entitled to reasonable attorney fees, costs, and disbursements under MCL 15.240(6). In all other respects, leave to appeal is denied, because we are not persuaded that the remaining questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.

YOUNG, C.J., and CAVANAGH, MARKMAN, KELLY, ZAHRA, MCCORMACK, and VIVIANO, JJ., concurred.

Notes

The language “from the time it is created” in the definition of the term “public record” was initially included in MCL 15.232(e) tо make clear that FOIA applied to records “irrespective of the date the document[s] [were] prepared,” i.e., to records created before FOIA took effect. OAG, 1979-1980, No. 5500, pp 255, 263-264 (July 23, 1979). See also (“A writing can become a public record after its creation. We understand the phrase ‘from the time it is created’ to mean that the ownership, use, possession, or retention by the public body can be at any point from creation of the record onward.“).

MCL 15.243(1)(b) provides an exemption to the disclosure requirement for “[i]nvestigating records compiled for law enfоrcement purposes, but only to the extent that disclosure as a public record would” interfere with law enforcement proceedings, deprive a person of the right to a fair trial, constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, disclose confidential sources, disclose investigative techniques, or endanger the life or safety of law enforcement personnel. Defendants do not claim that the law-enforcement exemption applies to these recordings.

The Court of Appeals considered the fact that the Wayne County prosecutоr subpoenaed the recordings to be of importance because it believed that the same mechanism would have been available to plaintiff in his role as defense counsel in the underlying misdemeanor proceedings. But see MCR 6.001(D) (“Depositions and other discovery proceedings under subchapter 2.300 may not be taken for the purposes of discovery in cases governed by this chapter.“). Nevertheless, whether the recordings were available to plaintiff by another method is irrelevant to whether the recordings are public records: FOIA does not define public reсords by reference to their potential availability by other methods, only by reference to the public body‘s use of the records. Consequently, it was improper for the Court of Appeals to rely on this fact in support of its conclusion that the recordings were not public records.

The fact that fees and costs remain available to a plaintiff in spite of the intervening release of public records is consistent ‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍with FOIA‘s stated purpose of ensuring that people have “complete information regarding the affairs of government....” MCL 15.231(2). The Legislature has determined that pеople who successfully assert their right to access public records that have been withheld by a public body in violation of FOIA should not bear the additional burden of shouldering the cost of a lawsuit to obtain that access. To penalize successful litigants simply because that success cоmes in the form of nonjudicial relief would hinder the ability of people who lack the resources to sustain their successful FOIA actions to receive complete information regarding the affairs of government in the face of a public body‘s intransigence. .

Additionally, MCL 15.240(7) provides for punitive damages if “the public body has arbitrarily and capriciously violatеd [FOIA] by refusal or delay in disclosing or providing copies of a public record.” Although plaintiff‘s complaint sought punitive damages under MCL 15.240(7), plaintiff has abandoned this claim for relief because his brief in opposition to defendants’ motion for summary disposition only asserted a claim of attorney fees and costs under MCL 15.240(6) and he did not otherwise develop his argument that he was entitled to punitive damages under MCL 15.240(7) over and above attorney fees and costs under MCL 15.240(6).

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