Hearst Corp. v. San Mateo County Human Services Agency

In this consolidated appeal, the San Mateo County Human Services Agency (Agency) appeals from two orders of the juvenile court of San Mateo County (County) granting petitions for disclosure of the juvenile records of Elijah S. and Savannah R., filed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 827, subdivision (a)(2) 1 by respondents, the Hearst Corporation, doing business as the San Francisco Chronicle (the Chronicle) and the San Mateo County Times (the Times), as part of a journalistic investigation. The issue on appeal is whether section 827 permits the disclosure of juvenile records in cases involving deceased children where no formal jurisdictional petition had been filed in juvenile court. Appellant Agency contends that it does not, and the juvenile court therefore erred in granting the petition for disclosure because no petition had ever been filed with respect to either of the juveniles in question. Respondents contend that under the express terms of section 827, the juvenile court properly ordered the records released in this case regardless of the fact no formal jurisdictional petition had ever been filed.

In light of the plain language of the statute and…