The State - News from July 18, 1988

Public agencies cannot refuse to disclose public records when they are relevant to pending lawsuits, Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp has concluded. The formal opinion is meant to clarify a state statute that allows public agencies to withhold certain records pertaining to litigation until the suits are concluded. Documents expressly prepared for the lawsuits can be withheld, Van de Kamp concluded, but documents generated in the ordinary course of the agency’s business must remain public. As an example, such police records as crime reports that are public documents must remain so even if they are relevant to a lawsuit, Van de Kamp said.