Michaelis, Montanari & Johnson v. Superior Court of the State of California

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION Petitioner made a request to the City of Los Angeles under the California Public Records Act (Govt. Code1 §6250 et seq.) for copies of proposals for the lease of a hangar facility at the Van Nuys airport. The City's Request for Proposals specifically provides that the proposals are public records. Petitioner made its request after the deadline for submitting the proposals had passed, but before the City had selected the successful bidder. The City agreed to honor the request, but only after it had completed negotiations with the successful bidder. The superior court denied petitioner's mandate petition, citing section 6255, which provides that a public entity may withhold a public record from disclosure if the public entity demonstrates to the court's satisfaction that the public interest served by not making the record public clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosing it. After conducting an independent review of the record (Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court (1991) 53 Cal.3d 1325, 1336), we conclude respondent court's order is not supported by substantial evidence. Applying the balancing test required by section 6255, we conclude the City was obligated to make copies of the proposals public once the deadline for submitting the proposals had passed in February 2004, not months later after the City had concluded negotiations with the successful bidder.