Victoria D.

Honey
Assistant City Attorney

Phone (817) 392-7600

Victoria.Honey@fortworthtexas.gov

June 11, 2015

Honorable Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General
ATTN: Open Records Division
P.O. Box 12548
Austin, Texas 78711-2548
Certified Mail No.: 7013 2630 0002 1580 2361
Re:

City of Fort Worth Public Information Request No. W043069 from Stephen Benavides
Request for the number of officer involved shootings from 2004 through 2014

Dear Attorney General Paxton:

On May 28, 2015, the City of Fort Worth (the City) received a written request from
Stephen Benavides (the requestor) for the number of officer involved shootings from January
1, 2004 through December 31, 2014. Exhibit A contains a certification of the date the City
received the request. A copy of the request is included as Exhibit B.
The City believes that the responsive records are excepted from disclosure under 552.101
of the Texas Government Code. Therefore, the City is seeking a ruling from your office in
accordance with section 552.301 of the Texas Government Code. Exhibit C contains the
information at issue.
Information protected by common law privacy may not be disclosed.
Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure information considered to be confidential by
law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision. The Texas Supreme Court held that
the predecessor to section 552.101 encompassed the common law right of privacy, which
protects information that (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of
which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern
to the public. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex.
1976). The types of information considered intimate and embarrassing by the Texas Supreme
Court in Industrial Foundation included information relating to sexual assault, pregnancy, mental
or physical abuse in the workplace, illegitimate children, psychiatric treatment of mental
disorders, attempted suicide, and injuries to sexual organs. Id. at 683.
In addition, your office has found that the following types of information are excepted
from required public disclosure under common law privacy: an individuals criminal history
when compiled by a governmental body, see Open Records Decision No. 565 (citing United
States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989));
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
The City of Fort Worth 1000 Throckmorton Street 3rd Floor Fort Worth, Texas 76102
817-392-7600 Fax 817-392-8359

Honorable Ken Paxton

CFW PIR No. W043069 Benavides, S.
June 11, 2015
Page 2 of 2

personal financial information not relating to a financial transaction between an individual and a
governmental body, see Open Records Decision Nos. 600 (1992), 545 (1990); some kinds of
medical information or information indicating disabilities or specific illnesses, see Open Records
Decision Nos. 470 (1987) (illness from severe emotional and job-related stress), 455 (1987)
(prescription drugs, illnesses, operations, and physical handicaps); and identities of victims of
sexual abuse, see Open Records Decision Nos. 440 (1986), 393 (1983), 339 (1982).
The City believes that the submitted information or portions thereof, is protected by
common law privacy and must be withheld pursuant to section 552.101.
Respectfully submitted,

Victoria D. Honey
Assistant City Attorney
Enclosures
c:

Stephen Benavides
via electronic mail: stephenbenavides@gmail.com