WNA Members:

The Wisconsin State Supreme Court found in favor of the Juneau County Star-Times today in a case that supports access to government records.

Christa Westerberg, McGillivray Westerberg & Bender LLC, attorney for the Juneau County Star-Times issued the following statement on behalf of the newspaper:  "The Star-Times is gratified by today's Wisconsin's Supreme Court decision affirming the public's right to governmental information, and rejecting attempts to deny public access through contractual language.  Simply because a government entity's law firm was retained by an insurance company rather than by the government entity directly does not make records related to the law firm's representation of the government any less public."

"The Wisconsin Newspaper Association is thrilled with today's Supreme Court ruling, stated Executive Director, Beth Bennett.  The use of independent contractors to conduct government business is on the rise. The question of who controls the records maintained by the third party sub-contractors, that relate to government activity, will continue to be challenged. The Juneau-County Star-Times decision will support efforts to access those records going forward."

Download a statement on today's Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling from attorney April Barker, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.

Summary Supreme Court Decision

(Juneau County Star-Times v. Juneau County, Opinion: Abrahamson, Dissent: Prosser/Gableman) Juneau County purchased a Public Entity Liability Policy from Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Company. The liability insurance policy was called into place requiring the insurance company to retain Crivello Carlson Law Firm to represent the County in a case related to Jeremy Haske, a former deputy sheriff. The law firm performed services for the County on the defense and sent the invoices to the insurance company. The insurance company paid the invoices.  Neither the law firm nor the insurance company sent invoices to the County. A reporter from the Juneau County Star-Times did an open records request for any legal bills from the lawsuit.  The law firm released redacted invoices saying the redacted information was privileged. The Star-Tribune filed suit seeking disclosure of the redacted portions of the invoices.  The circuit court granted summary judgment to the County saying the County had not contracted with the insurance company and the invoices were properly redacted to protect attorney-client privilege.  The court of appeals reversed the judgment saying  the statutes applied to the invoices and the County failed to give sufficient evidence to privilege.  The Supreme Court decision affirmed the appeals court saying, "Because the liability insurance policy is the basis for the tripartite relationship between the County, the insurance company, and the law firm, and is the basis for the attorney-client relationship between the law firm and the County, we conclude that the invoices were produced or collected during the course of the law firm's representation of the County and the insurance company pursuant to the liability insurance policy; the liability insurance policy is a contract entered into by the County and the insurance company."  In his dissent Justice Prosser argues for using the DOJ's interpretation of the law saying, "The DOJ concludes that because the legislature chose not to use broad language in 19.36(3), the contractor records provision does not include any record "used in connection with the performance of contractual services."

Beth Bennett

Executive Director

Wisconsin Newspaper Association

1901 Fish Hatchery Road

Madison, WI  53713

Wisconsin Newspaper Association

Direct Line:  (608) 283-7621

Fax:  (608)-283-7631

Cellular:  (608) 609-2299

beth.bennett@wnanews.com         

www.wnanews.com