 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Denver Publishing Co. v. Board of County Commissioners of the County of Arapahoe9/12/2005
on was an extensive report ("the report") created by a private investigator hired by the County that set forth his findings. The report contained one binder made up of several subreports and supporting documentation. As part of the report and supporting documentation, the investigator identified, among other things, 622 e-mail messages authored by Baker, or authored by Sale and sent to Baker, that were sent using the County's e-mail and text-pager systems. Of these messages, 570 contained sexually explicit and/or romantic content sent between Baker and Sale. Although the Board subsequently released the report to the public in October 2002, it was redacted and did not contain the contents of the sexually explicit messages or the subreport titled "Sexual Harassment/Hostile Environment".
Following the release of the redacted report, the Board received several written requests from media outlets, including DPC, that a non-redacted copy of the report be released and "all of the e-mail messages, instant messages or other electronic communications sent or received by Baker" for a 33-month period be disclosed pursuant to the provisions of CORA.
The Board did not disclose a non-redacted version of the report or the messages upon request, but instead filed a petition in the district court pursuant to section 24-72-204(6)(a), C.R.S. (2004), of CORA for a judicial determination whether the requested items could be released.
The Board asserted that there was a strong public interest in the disclosure of information relevant to alleged official misconduct, but wanted to ensure that the rights of all parties were protected. The Board specifically sought a court determination whether disclosure of the non-redacted report was prohibited by section 24-72-204 or whether disclosure was prohibited or restricted by the constitutional right to privacy. DPC intervened in the action contending that the report and e-mail messages were public records pursuant to CORA and the custodian of records had no statutory basis for objecting to the release of such public records.
As interested parties, Baker and Sale contested the disclosure of the e-mail messages as part of the released report as well as any separate release of the e-mail messages. To support their argument against the release of the messages, Baker and Sale asserted three arguments. First, they argued that the messages were not "public records" as provided in section 24-72-202 and therefore did not fall within the mandatory disclosure provisions of CORA. Second, even if the messages were "public records" as defined by CORA, the messages fell within several of the statutorily enumerated exceptions to CORA and were therefore exempt from disclosure and, in some cases, prohibited from disclosure altogether. Last, even if the express provisions mandated or permitted disclosure, Baker and Sale argued that state and federal constitutional privacy rights protected the messages from disclosure to the public.
After a hearing on the petition, the district court entered its ruling finding that the messages were public records within the scope of CORA and not subject to any express or implied exemptions. The court also found that Baker and Sale did not maintain any expectation of privacy in the messages and therefore the messages were not constitutionally protected from disclosure. Accordingly, the district court ordered the redacted portion of the report released, including all of the e-mail messages therein.
Baker and Sale appealed, setting forth the same arguments as raised before the district court. The court of appeals agreed with Baker and Sale, in part, and reversed the order of the district court. See In re Bd. of
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Colorado Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|