From Iloh v. Regents, decided Friday by the California Court of Appeal (Justice Thomas Goethals, joined by Judges Maurice Sanchez and Joanne Motoike):
An assistant professor at a public university submitted four articles on topics in her field of study to various academic journals unaffiliated with her university. All four of those articles were later either retracted or corrected by the journals, at least in part due to inaccurate references or text overlap from uncited sources. Soon after that, the professor left her position at the university.
A third party investigating the article retractions sent the university a request under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) seeking certain postpublication communications between the professor, the university, and the journals regarding the retracted articles. The university determined the requested documents were subject to disclosure; the professor disagreed, filed a petition for writ of mandate, and sought a preliminary injunction to prevent disclosure….
"The [C]PRA, enacted in 1968, grants access to public records held by state and local agencies. [Citation.] Modeled after the federal Freedom of Information Act, the [C]PRA was enacted for the purpose of increasing freedom of information by giving members of the public access to records in the possession of state and local agencies. [Citation.] Such 'access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business,' the Legislature declared, 'is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.'"
Consistent with that fundamental right of access to information, the CPRA dictates that "every person has [the] right to inspect any public record," except those records expressly exempted from disclosure. The CPRA broadly defines '"public records'" to include "any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency." [The California] Constitution requires that these provisions furthering the people's right of access to information be "broadly construed."
