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1998 Texas Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (1998)

handle is hein.sag/sagtx0070 and id is 1 raw text is: 'ffice of the Attornep 8eneral State of Mexas DAN MORALES ATTORNEY GENERAL July 1, 1998 Mr. Stephen R. Alcom Open Records Decision No. 658 Assistant City Attorney City of Grand Prairie Re: Whether a final mediated P.O. Box 534045 settlement agreement, including Grand Prairie, Texas 75053-4045 financial and all other terms of that agreement, is confidential under section 154.073 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code (ORQ-28) Dear Mr. Alcorn: In this request for an open records decision from the City of Grand Prairie (the city), we consider whether the Open Records Act (the act), chapter 552 of the Government Code, requires the public release of a governmental entity's mediated final settlement agreement. A prior decision of this office addressed to the City of Bellaire concluded that a mediated final settlement agreement is not public information based on section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 154.073 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. See Open Records Letter No. 98-0302 (1998). We overrule that open records letter and conclude that a governmental entity's mediated final settlement agreement is not made confidential by section 154.073 ofthe Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Further, we decline to decide whether the act requires the public release of portions of a final settlement agreement where the issue of the confidentiality of those portions is pending before a court. The city received several open records requests for final settlement agreements that the city reached in connection with two unrelated legal actions. One settlement agreement arose from the civil service appeal of an indefinite suspension by Mr. Blake Hubbard, a former city police officer.' See generally Local Gov't Code ch. 143, subch. D. The other agreement was reached during the course of a lawsuit filed in federal court against the city by Mr. Bryan McMillen and others. See McMillen v. Clay, No. 4-97CV-0 14-A (N.D. Tex. Feb. 13, 1998). Both of the settlement agreements resulted from mediation between the city 'The Hubbard settlement agreement includes nine attachments.

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