In Anderson-Barker v. Superior Court (City of Los Angeles), published January 22, 2019, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 7 denied a petition for a writ of mandate challenging a trial court's decision denying a California Public Records Act petition. The petition sought electronically-stored data relating to vehicles that private towing companies had impounded at the direction of the Los Angeles Police Department. The records were stored by an organization composed of the private towing companies. By contract, the city had the right to inspect the records. The trial court nevertheless ruled that the city had no obligation to produce the records under the CPRA because it did not possess the records.
The appellate court agreed. Under the CPRA, an entity must produce non-exempt public records it either actually or constructively possesses. "Constructive possession" means the right to control the records. That means to manage, direct, or oversee the records. The city did not direct what information was put in the records, and it had no power to modify the data in those records. That the city could access the data did not equate to possession or control.
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