Opinion
Opinion By: Andy Beshear,Attorney General;Matt James,Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The question presented in this appeal is whether the Carroll County Board of Education ("Board") violated the Open Records Act in not producing unredacted settlement agreements to which it was a party. We find that the Board violated the Open Records Act by not producing unredacted settlement agreements to which it was a party.
Lindsay M. Upton submitted an open records request to the Carroll County Board of Education on June 30, 2017. Upton requested "complete, unredacted copies of the following settlement agreements entered into by the Carroll County Board of Education and/or its insurer (s):
1. Settlement Agreement and Release between: (1) Claimants Chris Tuttle and Stacy Tuttle, Individually and as Co-Administrators for the Estate of Caroline Tuttle; (2) Defendants Carroll County Board of Education, Laura Reed, Lisa James, Jennifer Beach, Carolyn Jones, Mona Kindoll, Tommy Unker, Mary Ann Pearson, Larry Currell, Bill Hogan, and Nadena Mahoney; and (3) Insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, The Netherlands Insurance Company, and Indiana Insurance Company.
2. Settlement Agreement and Release between: (1) Claimants Ron Deitz and Kelly Deitz, Individually and as Co-Administrators for the Estate of Ryder Deitz; (2) Defendants Carroll County Board of Education, Laura Reed, Lisa James, Jennifer Beach, Carolyn Jones, Mona Kindoll, Tommy Unker, Mary Ann Pearson, Larry Currell, Bill Hgan, and Nadena Mahoney; and (3) Insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, The Netherlands Insurance Company, and Indiana Insurance Company.
Upton attached versions of the requested settlement agreements with the settlement amounts redacted. The Board is listed as one of the "DEFENDANTS" in the captions, the agreements state that "Insurer is the liability insurer of the Defendants," refer to "Defendants" throughout, and purport to be signed by Thomas Stevens as "DEFENDANTS' ATTORNEY." 1
The Board responded to the request on July 5, 2017, stating that it "does not have any of the settlement agreements that are contained in the request." Upton replied on July 24, 2017, claiming that "the Carroll County Board of Education is expressly named in the requested documents," and that "according to the State Agency Records Retention Schedule for Public School Districts . . . all District Litigation Files are to be retained permanently. " Upton further argued that "if the Board took any part i[n] the review or preparation of the requested documents, or it used the requested documents in any way, it must make them available."
The Board replied on July 27, 2017, stating:
The Board does not possess a copy of any settlement agreements. . .
. . . The Carroll County Board of Education was dismissed early on as a party to the litigation pending in the Carroll Circuit Court. Therefore . . . the Carroll County Board of Education did not receive a copy of the settlement agreements. The litigation was handled by the insurance carrier for the bus driver and her legal counsel. In fact, I am copying Attorney Jones on this correspondence.
Upton initiated this appeal on September 26, 2017, arguing that "the Board is expressly named and bound as a party by these settlement agreements. . . . Although the Board advises that it does not possess the documents we have requested, because they are contracts to which the Board is expressly named and bound as a party, they are 'public records' that are subject to inspection."
David C. Jones, counsel for one of the defendants in the underlying case at issue, responded to the appeal on October 5, 2017, stating:
The underlying request concerns confidential settlement agreements between plaintiffs injured in a Carroll County School Bus crash and the school bus driver, Laura Reed. I represent Ms. Reed.
Numerous plaintiffs filed lawsuits arising out of the crash at issue. Initially, their complaints included claims against various parties, including the driver (Reed), the Carroll County Board of Education, and its board members. In the course of litigation, the Board of Education and board members were dismissed pursuant to the doctrine of sovereign and governmental immunity, leaving only Defendant Reed. Reed later filed [a] third party complaint naming two third-party defendants, including IC Bus.
After the Board and its members were dismissed, Defendant Reed reached settlements with all remaining plaintiffs except one. . . . IC Bus now seeks to obtain this confidential settlement agreements made between an individual defendant (Reed) and various plaintiffs. The appeal states erroneously that because the Board was identified in the agreement, the agreement constitutes a document which must be produced pursuant to an open records act request.
The Board submitted its response to the appeal on October 6, 2017. It stated:
The Carroll County Board of Education was previously dismissed from this case on ground of governmental immunity, leaving Ms. Laura Reed as the only current defendant associated with the Board of Education. . . .
As noted in Mr. Jones' response, Ms. Reed reached settlements with all plaintiffs in the suit except one. All such settlements contained a confidentiality clause . . . .
Further, these confidential settlement agreements were entered into after the Board was dismissed from this matter. The agreements are between the plaintiffs and Ms. Reed in her individual capacity, and do not directly involve the Board of Education because it was no longer a party to the lawsuit.
This case also involves the interests of children . . . . Disclosure of these agreements in their entirety would be in violation of KRS 61.878(1)(a), considering the documents contain 'information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
This office requested additional information from the Board on October 26, 2017 under KRS 61.880(2)(c). We asked whether one or more of the insurers named in the settlement agreements were the insurers of the Board, and whether counsel for defendants in the settlement agreements served as counsel for the Board. The Board responded on November 6, 2017, confirming that one of the insurers listed in the settlement was the Board's insurer. 2 The Board also stated that "Thomas Stevens and J. Dale Golden served as counsel for the Carroll County Board of Education, and its employees in their official capacity, when they were previously named as parties to the current lawsuit. " The Board further reiterated that it had already been dismissed as parties to the lawsuit prior to the entry of the settlement agreements.
"It is beyond question that the settlement agreements are public records for purposes of the Open Records Act. " Cent. Ky. News-Journal v. George, 306 S.W.3d 41, 45 (Ky. 2010). See also Lexington-Fayette Urban Cnty. Gov't v. Lexington Herald-Leader Co., 941 S.W.2d 469, 471 (Ky. 1997); 15-ORD-001; 00-ORD-207. However, the Board does not dispute that any settlement agreements involving it are subject to open records. Rather, the Board claims that it is not a party to the settlement agreements requested, and does not possess or use any copies of such agreements.
In 17-ORD-095, the requester sought a settlement agreement in a civil case. The agency argued in that appeal that:
The source of funds was from the Board's insurer. . . . The Funds paid in settlement did not pertain to the Board, which was dismissed from the civil action.
Id. We rejected this argument on the grounds that "we find no meaningful distinction in . . . the fact that the Board itself was dismissed from the lawsuit prior to the jury verdict. . . . The Board has admitted that it was a party to the settlement agreement and that its insurance premiums purchased the coverage from which the settlement was paid." Id. We further held that "the fact that the Board's insurer was the source of funds makes no difference, since 'the settlement proceeds were paid out of . . . an insurance policy, the premiums for which had to have been, at least indirectly, paid with public tax money.'" Id. (quoting George, 306 S.W.3d at 46).
In the redacted versions of the settlement agreements, the Carroll County Board of Education is listed as one of the defendants. The agreements state that the insurer is the liability insurer of the defendants, and are signed by the defendants' attorney. On their faces, the settlement agreements appear to be legal documents binding the Board in a civil litigation case. As such, they should be part of a litigation file, to be retained permanently in accordance with the public school district records retention schedule.
The Board claims that it is not in possession of the settlements. However, the settlements are signed by counsel for the Board. Public records in the control of an agency's attorney are still considered in the possession or control of the public agency:
Mere possession by an agency's attorney does not deprive an otherwise public record of its status. "It is the nature and purpose of the document, not the place where it is kept, that determines its status as a public record. " 05-ORD-007. "Public records in the custody of a private agent, or that are otherwise secreted away on private premises, are subject to public inspection unless otherwise exempt. " 06-ORD-223. "An agency's attorney holds such records at the instance of and as custodian on the agency's behalf." 05-ORD-007.
16-ORD-262. To the extent that the settlements are in the possession of the Board's attorney, they are therefore in the possession of the Board, and the Board is required to provide them unless they are otherwise exempt.
The Board finally argues that the unredacted settlements are exempt under KRS 61.878(1)(a), which exempts "public records containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. " The only information redacted in the settlements are the settlement amounts. "The payment of . . . funds in settlement of a suit . . . is a matter with which the public has a substantial concern, against which little weight can be accorded to any desire of the plaintiff in that suit to keep secret the amount of money he received." Courier Journal v. McDonald, 524 S.W.2d 633, 635 (Ky. 1974). See also 00-ORD-5; 98-ORD-24. The settlement amounts are not therefore exempt under the privacy exemption in KRS 61.878(1)(a). In failing to provide unredacted copies of the requested settlement agreements binding the Board, the Board violated the Open Records Act.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Under to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General must be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceedings.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 The settlement agreements require the insurer to make all payments, not the Board.
2 In its November 6, 2017 response, the Board stated that "the underwriting company who wrote the insurance policy for the Carroll County Board of Education . . . was Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, another underwriting company within the Liberty Mutual Group." The Board subsequently clarified in a November 8, 2017 correspondence that:
This policy was marketed under the name of Ohio Casualty, but the underwriter was The Netherlands Insurance Company.
Likewise, Indiana Insurance Company wrote the umbrella policy for the Carroll County Board of Education. As with The Netherlands Insurance Company, Indiana Insurance Company also marketed its policies under the Ohio Casualty name.
In summation, Ohio Casualty is not a separate insurance company, but rather is the marketing name used by the smaller companies within the Liberty Mutual Group, such as The Netherlands Insurance Company and Indiana Insurance Company, to market their insurance products.