This is going to sound like sour grapes ... because it is. I will further preface by saying I'm not inclined to file a lawsuit against the AG to challenge the ruling.

With that said, I'm disturbed the the latest ruling I got from the AG. The background facts can be summarized as follows: An inmate dies in our jail. An investigation by the special crimes unit follows. The matter is under consideration by the grand jury (with the DA handling the case). Shortly after the inmate's death, the county receives a Tort Claims Act demand on behalf of the inmate's family. My office replies. Thereafter, a PIA request comes in from an Austin law firm directed to the sheriff's office and my office, asserting about 24 categories of information sought. The request is broad enough to encompass the entire files maintained by both offices. I request an AG decision, asserting that (1) the information in my office's file is protected under section 552.103; (2) the sheriff's file is protected under sections 552.103 and 552.108; and (3) the effective request for my entire file triggers the work product privilege as recognized by In re City of Georgetown.

The AG acknowledges that most of the material is subject to withholding under section 552.103. However, as to my office's file, the AG finds that the autopsy report and some employee evaluations that I culled out as potentially relevant are "completed reports or evaluations" under section 552.022, and therefore are subject to that provision's all-but-absolute disclosure requirement. The work product exemption was sidestepped by postulation that work product (as recognized by City of Georgetown) only applies to a civil case, and the materials in my file came from a criminal investigation. Huh? What does it matter where I got the material? The fact that I chose to include it in my file reflects my thought processes as I prepare for the contemplated civil litigation that the AG recognized I face by otherwise granting my section 552.103 assertion. That's work product, plain and simple. But the other side gets it, anyway.

And so we reach the relevance to the rest of you. The moral here is don't put any "report or evaluation" in your litigation file until the Supreme Court is forced once again to remind the AG that the PIA is subservient to discovery rules and privileges in the litigation arena.

Do you suppose the AG's ruling in your case has anything to do with the fact that the dissent in In re City of Georgetown was authored by then-justice Greg Abbott? The shape of things to come?