Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. v. Regents of the University of California

In a lawsuit brought to compel disclosure under the California Public Records Act of certain correspondence of two UCLA environmental law professors, a California Superior Court ruled that the respondent was not required to disclose correspondence related to pre-publication academic research but found that the respondent had not met its burden to prove that it properly withheld other records. The party that sought the correspondence alleged that the records sought were related to recent climate litigation by municipalities and state attorneys general against energy companies and that the correspondence had been requested “for the purpose of understanding how state institutions are involved, if at all, in the larger effort feeding this litigation industry.” The court found the record to be inadequate to establish that the following categories of correspondence were properly withheld: pre-decisional internal discussions regarding how to raise funds from private sources; correspondence that contained “purely personal conversation,” including with a major donor; correspondence in the professors’ capacities as board members of unaffiliated environmental organizations. The court found that there was at least some reasonable probability that the respondent could meet its burden through submittal of more specific supplemental declarations regarding the withheld documents.

In its amended petition, the petitioner asserted that the University of California violated the California Public Records Act and open government provisions in the California Constitution in its response to requests for "records concerning the University's work with private outside parties including law enforcement to develop theories of litigation against, and pursue as targets of investigation, perceived opponents of a political and policy agenda (the 'Climate Change Agenda') shared by these outside parties and certain faculty, and the University's Emmett Institute on Climate Change the Environment." In particular, the requests sought two law professors' correspondence with certain parties, including two individuals "principally responsible for underwriting these efforts" and a state attorney general's office.