Question
My question is about records held by the Department of Insurance. I placed a request regarding information pertaining to bail agents of a certain company. I believe several of these agents obtained a license under fraudulent means by having criminal records. All I wanted was their dates of birth to confirm our suspicious however I was denied my request. Is there anyway I can legally obtain this info? I have filed a criminal complaint against this company and am seeking more evidence against them. Thank you.
Answer
The California Department of Insurance may properly raise the “private personal information” exemption found in Government Code section 6254 and/or the privacy provisions of the California Constitution in denying disclosure of personal identifying information of its staff, such as birth dates, phone number, social security and credit card or bank account information. The courts have stated, however, that “[e]ach case must undergo an individual weighing process.” Braun v. City of Taft, 134 Cal. App. 3d 332 (California Court of Appeal, 5th Dist. 1984). “The weighing process involves what public interest is served in this particular instance in not disclosing the information versus the public interest served in disclosing the information.” Id. Given that you have filed a criminal complaint against an insurance company involving their bail agents, you may want to raise this issue with the office you have filed the complaint. They may want to pursue this matter further. After a balancing of the interests, a court may decide that disclosure of this private information outweighs the public interest in nondisclosure of the information in this particular case. Another option is to file a civil action under the Public Records Act to obtain a court order for the release of these records. You may be able to find an attorney that may help you in this matter through the CFAC Lawyer Assistance Request Service.
Asked & Answered posts should not be relied on as legal advice, and FAC makes no guarantees about their completeness or accuracy. All posts carry a date of publication that readers should take note of in assessing their usefulness, given that laws and interpretations of them may change over time. Posts predating Jan. 1, 2023, that discuss the California Public Records Act may contain statute numbers no longer in use. Please see this page for a table showing how the California Public Records Act has been renumbered.