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Long v. State6/29/2005
sion in Palacios, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Pierce County v. Guillen, 537 U.S. 129, 123 S.Ct. 720, 154 L.Ed.2d 610 (2003) ("Guillen"). In Guillen, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether the 1995 amendment to 23 U.S.C. § 409 was a valid exercise of Congress' authority under the United States Constitution.
Ignacio Guillen had been killed in an automobile accident as he crossed a highway/railroad intersection in Pierce County, Washington. Prior to the accident, the State of Washington requested funding for improvements to the intersection under the federal highway improvement program set forth in 43 U.S.C. §152. The State of Washington's application for funding was originally denied by the highway administration. Thereafter, the state reapplied and the second application was approved three weeks after Mr. Guillen's accident.
Through discovery requests, the plaintiffs requested information from the state regarding accidents which had occurred at the intersection where Mr. Guillen died.
The state objected, claiming that any relevant documents were protected by § 409. Nonetheless, the trial court ordered production of the documents. The intermediate appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision and the matter was appealed to the Washington Supreme Court.
The Washington Supreme Court examined the scope of § 409 and distinguished between those documents in the custody of the Public Works Department and documents held by other agencies such as the county sheriff. The court reasoned that the statute did not hinge "on the identity of the custodian of the document at issue," but rather whether the documents were collected for purposes related to § 152. Guillen, 537 U.S. at 139. Nonetheless, the Washington Supreme Court concluded that the 1995 amendment to § 409 protected only information originally created solely for § 152 purposes.
A unanimous Supreme Court reversed the Washington Supreme Court. The Supreme Court adopted the interpretation of the scope of § 409 proposed by the intervenor, the United States Government, that "the 1995 amendment to § 409 protects not just information an agency generates, i.e. compiles, for § 152 purposes, but also any information that an agency collects from other sources for § 152 purposes." [emphasis added] The Supreme Court considered the purpose behind Congress' adoption of § 409 and stated:
Congress adopted § 152 to assist state and local governments in reducing hazardous conditions in the Nation's channels of commerce.
That effort was impeded, however, by the States' reluctance to comply fully with the requirements of § 152, as such compliance would make state and local governments easier targets for negligence actions by providing would-be plaintiffs a centralized location from which they could obtain much of the evidence necessary for such actions. In view of these circumstances, Congress could reasonably believe that adopting a measure eliminating an unforeseen side effect of the information-gathering requirement of § 152 would result in more diligent efforts to collect the relevant information, more candid discussions of hazardous locations, better informed decision making, and, ultimately, greater safety on our Nation's roads. Consequently, both the original § 409 and the 1995 amendment can be viewed as legislation aimed at improving safety in the channels of commerce and increasing protection for the instrumentalities of interstate commerce. Guillen, 537 U.S. at 148.
Thus, Guillen established that information compiled and used for purposes related to § 152, even if created by and in the hands of another agency, are protected by § 409.
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