Tracy Press, Inc. v. Superior Court

After the superior court denied a newspaper’s petition for writ of mandate against a city concerning a public records request, the newspaper filed a petition for writ of mandate in this court. In so doing, however, the newspaper named only the city and did not name the city council member from whom the newspaper sought records, even though that city council member had been a named party in the superior court proceeding. We conclude that the newspaper’s petition must be dismissed because, having named the city council member and lost in the superior court, the newspaper cannot now obtain a conflicting order against the city.

BACKGROUND

In January 2007, Tracy Press, Inc., a newspaper, submitted to the City of Tracy (the City) a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.). The request pertained to dealings between city officials and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Lawrence Livermore) and included a request for e-mails exchanged between members of the city council and Lawrence Livermore. The City responded but did not produce e-mails that Suzanne Tucker, a member of the city council, exchanged with Lawrence Livermore from…