Challenging the denial of a Freedom of Information Law request on the representation that the records are exempt from disclosure

Challenging the denial of a Freedom of Information Law request on the representation that the records are exempt from disclosure

2016 NY Slip Op 04417

The petitioner [Petitioner] in this CPLR Article 78 action had filed a Freedom of Information Law [FOIL] request with the custodian of police department records relating to a recent criminal investigation of allegations concerning events that occurred more than 25 years ago. The custodian of the records denied the request, claiming that the entire case file was exempt from FOIL disclosure.

After an unsuccessful administrative appeal, Petitioner initiated litigation to compel the custodian to produce the case file. Supreme Court denied the petition and dismissed the proceeding. Petitioner appealed the Supreme Court’s decision.

The Appellate Division commenced its review of the Petitioner’s appeal by noting:

1. In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR Article 78 to compel the production of material pursuant to FOIL, the custodian of the records denying access has the burden of demonstrating that the material requested falls within a statutory exemption, which exemptions are to be narrowly construed;

2. The denial requires the entity resisting disclosure to articulate a particularized and specific justification for denying access and conclusory assertions that certain records fall within a statutory exemption are not sufficient; evidentiary support is needed; and

3. If the court is unable to determine whether withheld documents fall entirely within the scope of the asserted exemption, it should conduct an in camera* inspection of representative documents and order disclosure of all nonexempt, appropriately redacted, material.

The Appellate Division also noted that Public Officers Law §87(2)(a) provides that a custodian may deny access to records or portions thereof that "are specifically exempted from disclosure by state** or federal statute" while Civil Rights Law §50-b(1) provides a statutory exemption from disclosure for documents that tend to identify the victim of a sex offense. 

However, said the court, Civil Rights Law §50-b(1) "does not justify a blanket denial of a request for any documents relating to a sex crime. If a requested document does not contain information that tends to identify the victim of a sex crime, and the FOIL request is otherwise valid, the document must be disclosed." Further, the custodian must make a particularized showing that “the statutory exemption from disclosure pursuant to Civil Rights Law §50-b(1) applies to all the records that the petitioner seeks.”

The Appellate Division said that Supreme Court should have conducted an in camera inspection to determine whether the entire case file falls within the exemption from disclosure of Civil Rights Law §50-b(1) as any document in the case file containing identifying information is protected by Civil Rights Law §50-b(1) would be categorically excluded in its entirety and not subject to redaction or deletion.

Accordingly, the Appellate Division remanded the matter to Supreme Court for a new determination based upon the court’s in camera inspection of the records claimed to be exempt from disclosure.  

* An inspection of the documents is to held by the judge in his or her private chambers.

** The release of some public records is limited by statute [see, for example, Education Law, §1127 - Confidentiality of records; §33.13, Mental Hygiene Law - Clinical records; confidentiality]. Otherwise an individual is not required to submit a FOIL request as a condition precedent to obtaining public records where access is not barred by statute unless the custodian of the public record[s] sought declines to “voluntarily” provide the information or record requested. In such cases the individual or organization is required to file a FOIL request to obtain the information. It should also be noted that there is no bar to providing information pursuant to a FOIL request, or otherwise, that falls within one or more of the FOIL exceptions that the custodian could rely upon in denying a FOIL request, in whole or in part, for the information or records demanded.

The decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_04417.htm

Governor Cuomo asks to Port Authority officials to investigate an alleged closure of a Lincoln Tunnel lane for other than official purposes

Governor Cuomo asks to Port Authority officials to investigate an alleged closure of a Lincoln Tunnel lane for other than official purposes

Source: Office of the Governor

On June 21, 2016, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo sent a letter to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman John Degnan, Vice Chairman Steven Cohen and Executive Director Patrick Foye regarding a reported lane closure in the Lincoln Tunnel.

Governor Cuomo wrote:

Dear Chairman Degnan, Vice Chairman Cohen and Executive Director Foye:

In recent court papers detailing corruption charges against members of the New York City Police Department, it was noted that a businessman “using his connections in local law enforcement agencies, was able to arrange for the closure of a lane in the Lincoln Tunnel and a police escort down that lane for a businessman visiting the United States.” If this is true, it is deeply troubling.

I am hereby directing the New York State and Port Authority Offices of the Inspector General to conduct a thorough examination of what, if any, role agents of the Port Authority played in the circumstances associated with these allegations. The NYPD has no jurisdiction within the tunnels boundaries. If members of the Port Authority or PAPD participated in any fashion – through purpose or neglect – the State will deliver immediate and severe consequences.

The State of New York holds the integrity of public service to the highest standard. When those who are sanctioned to uphold the law use their position for personal gain, it threatens all of us. We will simply not allow Port Authority facilities to be chips in some nefarious pattern of deceit.

Please ensure you are coordinating with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation before commencing any action.

Sincerely,

Andrew M. Cuomo

Governor Cuomo’s letter is posted on the Internet at:

https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/PortAuthorityLetter06.21.2016.pdf

Removing a town, village, improvement district or fire district officer, other than a justice of the peace, from his or her office

Removing a town, village, improvement district or fire district officer, other than a justice of the peace, from his or her office

2016 NY Slip Op 04420, Appellate Division, Second Department

The Village Board [Village] adopted a resolution appointing its Village Clerk/Treasurer [Clerk] for a two-year term. Village subsequently advised Clerk that it had suspended her with pay following her arrest for allegedly “shoplifting” and ultimately adopted a resolution terminating Clerk's “employment by the Village.”

Clerk commenced a CPLR Article 78 action seeking a court order compelling Board to reinstate her to her office retroactively with full back pay, alleging, among other things, that Village’s action terminating her from office was arbitrary and capricious, and in violation of Public Officers Law §36. Village answered the petition and subsequently moved to dismiss the proceeding.

Supreme Court, without deciding the merits of Clerk’s petition, determined that the Village did not raise any objections in point of law that could terminate the entire proceeding, denied the Village's motion to dismiss Clerk’s petition and transferred the proceeding to the Appellate Division.

The Appellate Division opined that, as the challenged determination by Village was not made after a quasi-judicial evidentiary hearing, Supreme Court erred in transferring the matter to it. However, “in the interest of judicial economy,” the court elected to retain jurisdiction and determine the issues raised by Clerk on their merits.

Considering the relevant law, the Appellate Division ruled that Village lacked the authority to remove Clerk, a Village officer, from her position by adopting a resolution to that effect.

The court explaining that a Village officer could only be removed from his or her office in accordance with the procedure set forth in Public Officers Law §36, noting that §36 provides, in relevant part, that any Village officer "may be removed from office by the supreme court for any misconduct . . . An application for such removal may be made by any citizen resident of such . . . village . . . or by the district attorney of the county in which such . . . village . . . is located, and shall be made to the appellate division."

Further, §36 provides that “Such application [to the Appellate Division in the appropriate judicial department] shall be made upon notice to such officer of not less than eight days, and a copy of the charges upon which the application will be made must be served with such notice.”

The Village’s action to terminate Clerk from her public office by adopting a resolution so doing was, in effect, a nullity as Village lacked the authority to remove Clerk from her public office by resolution. As no application to the Appellate Division to remove Clerk from her office had been made as mandated by Public Officers Law §36, the Appellate Division granted Clerk’s petition to the extent that Village’s action was annulled and the matter remitted to the Supreme Court to determine the appropriate remedy.

The decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_04420.htm

_______________

The Discipline Book - A 458 page guide focusing on New York State laws, rules, regulations, disciplinary grievances procedures set out in collective bargaining agreements and selected court and administrative decisions concerning disciplinary actions involving state and municipal public officers and employees. For more information click on http://booklocker.com/5215.html

_______________

If a State Department’s policy memorandum constitutes a "rule or regulation" within the meaning of the State’s Constitution it must be filed with the Secretary of State before it can have the force and effect of law

If a State Department’s policy memorandum constitutes a "rule or regulation" within the meaning of the State’s Constitution it must be filed with the Secretary of State before it can  have the force and effect of law

Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers v New York State Health Ins. Plan, 2016 NY Slip Op 04473, Appellate Division, Third Department

[See, also, 2016 NY Slip Op 04472, http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_04472.htm, granting NYSHIP’s motion to reargue the court’s decision.]

Roslyn Teachers Assn. v New York State Health Ins. Plan, 2016 NY Slip Op 04475, Appellate Division, Third Department*

[See, also, 2016 NY Slip Op 04474, http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_04474.htm, granting NYSHIP’s motion to reargue the court’s decision.]*

While the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District [School District], a participating employer in the New York State Health Insurance Program [NYSHIP] administered by the New York State Department of Civil Service, was negotiating the terms of new collective bargaining agreements with the Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers and its Clerical Unit and Teachers Unit, [Association], the Department of Civil Service issued its "Policy Memorandum No. 122r3" [Memorandum], which limited the circumstances under which an employee of a participating employer such as the School District may decline NYSHIP coverage in exchange for a cash payment.

Although earlier collective bargaining agreements between the parties had included such a "buyout program," the School District took the position that the buyout program was required to conform to the new restrictions set forth in the Memorandum.

In response to the position taken by the School District, the Association commenced a combined CPLR Article 78 proceeding and action for declaratory judgment seeking, among other things, a judicial declaration that the Memorandum is null and void. NYSHIP and the Department of Civil Service [the State] moved for summary judgment.

Supreme Court denied the State’s motion, granted the Association’s petition declaring the Memorandum null and void, and remitted the matter to the State for further action. The State appealed.

In an earlier, and similar action, the Appellate Division, School Administrators Association of New York v New York State Department of Civil Service, 124 AD3d 1174, the State had argued that School Administrators' claims were barred by the four-month statute of limitations. In response to the State’s argument that the Association’s claim was similarly untimely, the Appellate Division ruled that the Association had advanced an argument regarding the timeliness of their challenge that was not before the court in School Administrators.

Here, said the Appellate Division, the Association contended the Memorandum was, in fact, a new, formal rule governing employee eligibility for the NYSHIP buyout program. Thus, argued the Association, its provisions are unenforceable because, among other things, it was not filed with the Department of State in accordance with the mandates of the State’s Constitution** and Executive Law §102[1][a]).

In the words of the Appellate Division, “… the resolution of the [Association's] challenge hinges on whether the policy memorandum is more properly characterized as a rule or regulation, or as an interpretive statement or general policy which are not subject to constitutional and statutory filing requirements.”

The court explained that a rule or regulation is "a fixed, general principle to be applied by an administrative agency without regard to other facts and circumstances relevant to the regulatory scheme of the statute it administers." Interpretive statements and guidelines, in contrast, merely assist agency officials in exercising some aspect of their discretionary authority granted by existing statutes and regulations but do not have, in and of themselves, the force and effect of law.

The primary difference between a rule or regulation and an interpretive statement or guideline, said the court, is that the former “set standards that substantially alter or, in fact, can determine the result of future agency adjudications” while interpretive statements and guidelines simply provide additional detail and clarification as to how such standards are met by the public and upheld by the agency.”

The Appellate Division found that the Memorandum constituted a "rule or regulation" within the meaning of Article IV, §8 of the State Constitution and Executive Law §102 and thus it is “invalid and without effect” until it is filed with the Department of State.

As the State did not comply with this filing requirement, it follows that the statute of limitations never commenced to run on the Association’s claims.

Accordingly, the Appellate Division sustained Supreme Court's determination.

* In Roslyn, which the Appellate Divisions characterized as a case that is virtually indistinguishable from Matter of Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers v New York State Health Insurance Plan, 2016 NY Slip Op 04473, [see above], the court said that the new restriction that the policy memorandum imposes on eligibility for the NYSHIP buyout program constitutes "a firm rigid, unqualified standard or policy" that effectively "carves out a course of conduct for the future.” Accordingly the policy memorandum constituted a "rule or regulation" within the meaning of Article IV, §8 New York State’s Constitution and Executive Law §102(1)(a) and, thus, is not effective until it is filed with the Department of State. The Roslyn decision is posted on the Internet at: http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_04475.htm

** Article IV, §8 of the State Constitution provides that “No rule or regulation made by any state department, board, bureau, officer, authority or commission, except such as relates to the organization or internal management of a state department, board, bureau, authority or commission shall be effective until it is filed in the office of the department of state. The legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of such rules and regulations by appropriate laws.”

The Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers decision is posted on the Internet at: http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_04473.htm