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Guillen v. Pierce County9/13/2001
Oral Argument Date: 11/16/2000
Concurring: Charles Z. Smith, Richard B. Sanders, Faith E Ireland, Richard P. Guy, Barbara A. Madsen, Gerry L. Alexander, Charles W. Johnson
EN BANC
The respondents in these consolidated cases seek access to accident reports and other materials and data held by the local government petitioners relating to the traffic history of the sites of their subject car accidents. Petitioners claim that all accident reports are nondiscoverable, since RCW 46.52.080 declares them 'confidential' and inadmissible. Petitioners also contend that all the materials and data at issue are privileged under 23 U.S.C. sec. 409--and consequently also exempt from public disclosure under RCW 42.17.310(j)--since they were, according to sworn declarations in the record, 'compiled' or 'collected' by petitioners pursuant to 23 U.S.C. sec. 152 so as 'to identify hazardous locations, sections, and elements' on 'all public roads' that might prove to be good candidates for federally funded safety enhancement projects. Petitioners note that 23 U.S.C. sec. 409 was expressly amended by Congress in 1995 to cover all 'reports, surveys, schedules, lists, or data compiled or collected for the purpose of identifying, evaluating, or planning the safety enhancement of potential accident sites, hazardous roadway conditions, or railway-highway crossings, pursuant to sec.sec. 130, 144, and 152 of this title.' We reject both arguments.
While RCW 46.52.080 exempts accident reports prepared by persons involved in accidents from public disclosure or admission as evidence in certain trials, we hold that they remain discoverable. Furthermore, we hold that Congress' 1995 amendment to 23 U.S.C. sec. 409 violates the United States Constitution's federalist design as defined by its framers and by the United States Supreme Court, insofar as it makes state and local traffic and accident materials and data nondiscoverable and inadmissible in state and local courts, simply because they are also 'collected' and used for federal purposes. We hold that only materials and data originally created for the statutorily identified federal purposes are lawfully covered by the federal privilege and, thus, exempt from public disclosure under RCW 42.17.310(j). Because there are insufficient facts in the record to apply this standard to all of the disputed items in these consolidated cases, we vacate the lower courts' rulings and remand for supplementation of the record and further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
FACTS
Guillen
On July 5, 1996, Ignacio Guillen's wife, Clementina Guillen-Alejandre, was killed and her passengers injured in an automobile collision at the intersection of 168th Street East and B Street East, in Pierce County.
Months earlier, on May 11, 1995, based on traffic and accident reports and data in its possession, Pierce County had identified this intersection as especially hazardous and applied for federal hazard elimination funds under 23 U.S.C. sec. 152. That application was denied. The County then reapplied on April 3, 1996, and on July 26, 1996, three weeks after Guillen- Alejandre's fatal accident, the application was granted.
A letter dated August 16, 1996, was sent on Guillen's behalf to the County's Risk Management Department, requesting materials and data relating to the intersection's accident history. The county prosecuting attorney's office denied the request in a letter dated September 9, 1996, claiming the history was privileged under 23 U.S.C. sec. 409 and RCW 42.17.310(j). In a letter dated October 28, 1996, counsel for Guillen clarified his request:
'I
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