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Teamsters Local 856 v. Priceless10/31/2003
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
Priceless, L.L.C., a limited liability corporation that operates newspaper companies as the "Daily News" in various cities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, appeals from a preliminary injunction that allowed the release of information regarding public employee salaries in various cities, but limited the form of the information to prohibit disclosure of compensation received by individually identifiable employees.
The narrow issue presented on appeal is whether the trial court properly issued the preliminary injunction withholding the names of individual public employees pending resolution of the newspaper's request for detailed employee salary information from local governmental entities.
We affirm the order granting the preliminary injunction in light of the evidence submitted to the trial court.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In February of 2003, Christina Bellantoni, a reporter for the Daily News, sent requests for records pursuant to the California Public Records Act (CPRA) to numerous San Francisco Bay Area cities. (Gov. Code, ยง 6250 et seq.) The letters cited the CPRA, and stated: "Specifically, I would like the names, titles and W2 wages of all [city] employees for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2002. By W2 wages, I mean all compensation paid to these employees during the year, including regular hours, overtime, bonuses, etc."
According to Bellantoni's declaration, a number of cities provided the records as requested, but: "most cities, including the Cities involved in this litigation, either indicated that they would need additional time to respond or provided inconclusive responses."
On March 13, 2003, counsel for Teamsters Local 856 notified the Daily News that it and other unions that represented municipal employees intended to seek to enjoin disclosure of the individual employees' names and salaries to the Daily News. Following this notice, counsel for the Daily News spoke with city attorneys who indicated they would now withhold information pending resolution of the action.
On March 17, 2003, Teamsters Local 856, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Locals 829 and 2190 (the Unions) filed a complaint for injunctive relief naming as defendants the cities of Atherton, Burlingame, Foster City, San Carlos and Belmont (the Cities) and the Daily News. The complaint alleged that release of the employees' names would be an invasion of privacy and would cause irreparable harm. It also alleged that release of the information regarding peace officer employees would violate Penal Code section 832.7. The complaint sought preliminary and permanent injunctions.
On March 19, 2003, the Unions filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. The motion was supported by two declarations from union officials stating that, to their knowledge, the salary of individual employees was maintained as confidential information by the Cities. The third supporting declaration was from a law clerk at the office of the Unions' counsel, stating that as of March 14, each of the Cities was prepared to provide the first initial and last name of each employee with his or her corresponding 2002 base earnings, overtime earnings and bonus earnings. The City of Atherton was also prepared to provide that information for police officers.
The Daily News filed opposition to the request for a preliminary injunction, arguing that the items of information requested were public records, were not exempt from the provisions of the CPRA and that disclosure would not infringe on any privacy interest. The Daily News attached a copy of a federal administra
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