The 12th Court of Appeals, on April 8, 2020, reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the Mayor of the City of Coffee City. A citizen had requested "numerous records" from the City, and had received some documents. The citizen sued the Mayor, alleging that some documents were not released. The trial court granted the Mayor's motion for summary judgment.
The Mayor's deposition was taken, during which the Mayor stated that he had not spoken with the members of the City Council, and had not looked at his own personal computer's email, in responding to the request.
The appellant argued, and the court agreed, that the documents that may have existed on the personal computers and the telephones of the city council and Mayor could be public information. The definition of public information includes "information that is written, produced, collected, assembled, or maintained . . . by an individual officer or employee of a governmental body in the officer's or employee's official capacity and the information pertains to official business of the governmental body."
While most practitioners in municipal law know this, this case does demonstrate the lengths to which a records producer must go to determine that they have gotten all the public information that exists.
The case is Horton v. Welch, Case No. 12-19-00381-CV, April 8, 2020.