Teamsters Local 856 v. PRICELESS, LLC

Priceless, LLC, a limited liability corporation that operates newspaper companies as the “Daily News” in various cities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, appeals from a preliminary injunction that allowed the release of information regarding public employee salaries in various cities, but limited the form of the information to prohibit disclosure of compensation received by individually identifiable employees.

The narrow issue presented on appeal is whether the trial court properly issued the preliminary injunction withholding the names of individual public employees pending resolution of the newspaper’s request for detailed employee salary information from local governmental entities.

We affirm the order granting the preliminary injunction in light of the evidence submitted to the trial court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In February of 2003, Christina Bellantoni, a reporter for the Daily News, sent requests for records pursuant to the California Public Records Act (CPRA) to numerous San Francisco Bay Area cities. (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.) The letters cited the CPRA, and stated: “Specifically, I would like the names, titles and W2 wages of all [city]…