CBS Broadcasting Inc. v. Superior Court

Plaintiff CBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS), a New York corporation, petitions this court for a writ of mandate to compel the Los Angeles County Superior Court to grant its motion for injunctive relief to restrain defendant State Department of Social Services (DSS) from refusing to comply with its request for disclosure under the California Public Records Act (PRA). (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.) 1 CBS seeks disclosure of “[a] list of all persons with criminal convictions who have received exemptions from 1995 to the present from [DSS] that allow such persons to work in licensed day care facilities” as well as “[a] list of all licensed day care facilities with an owner/operator, employee and/or person living at the facility who has received an exemption from [DSS] from 1995 to the present allowing such person to own/operate, work and/or live at the facility . . . .”

“In enacting [the PRA], the Legislature, mindful of the right of individuals to privacy, finds and declares that accéss to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.” (§ 6250.) This tension between an individual’s right of privacy and…