Humane Society of United States v. Superior Court

This case presents issues concerning the balancing of public interests in research related to an academic study published by a state entity and the disclosure of documents pertaining to prepublication communications and deliberations relating to that study. Pursuant to the California Public Records Act (CPRA) (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.), 1 The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) petitions this court for an extraordinary writ (§ 6259, subd. (c)) 2 directing the trial court to order real party in interest, the Regents of the University of California (the Regents), to disclose records relating to the funding, preparation, and publishing of a study by the university’s Agricultural Issues Center (AIC) entitled, Economic Effects of Proposed Restrictions on Egg-laying Hen Housing in California (July 2008) (Economic Effects). We issued an alternative writ.

HSUS contends the trial court improperly created a de facto academic “researcher” exemption with a presumption of nondisclosure, unless the party seeking disclosure can prove “improper influence,” and made no effort to segregate exempt information from nonexempt information. The Regents ask that we dismiss the petition…