Westbrook

The issue presented in this case is whether a private entity in the business of selling criminal background information to the public is entitled to obtain a compilation of data from a data base maintained by the Municipal Courts of Los Angeles County, including the name, birth date and zip code of every person against whom criminal charges are pending in those courts, together with the case number, date of offense, charges filed, pending court dates, and disposition.

For reasons explained more fully in this opinion, we conclude such information is protected from dissemination except as authorized by Penal Code sections 13200 through 13300, inclusive, and that respondent Robert Westbrook, doing business as Crimeline, has not proven facts entitling him to disclosure of the information pursuant to Penal Code section 13300. Therefore, we reverse the judgment allowing respondent to buy monthly copies of such information on computer tape from appellants Los Angeles County Municipal Courts.

I

Respondent sued appellants alleging that they had refused to sell him computer tapes containing copies of the Municipal Court Information System (hereafter MCI) in violation of their…