Law enforcement informal and formal settlement data and reports (Baltimore Police Department)

Dear Beryl Lipton:

This is an acknowledgement of your request, for public information, submitted to the Document Compliance Unit ("DCU") of the Baltimore Police Department ("BPD"). Your request is governed by the Maryland Public Information Act ("PIA"), Maryland Code, General Provisions Article ("GP"), Sections 4-101 et seq. DCU will process your request promptly. However, our response may take longer than ten (10) working days, the reasons for which may include the scope of your request, the type and volume of potentially responsive records, and the nature of the search, review, and preparation that is required. In any event, DCU will respond to your request within thirty (30) days. GP § 4-203.

DCU will contact you with the availability of records and the possible costs associated with this request, as soon as the information is made available by the Custodian of Records. Likewise, if DCU and/or the Custodian of Records need you to clarify your request, DCU will contact you promptly.

Please refer to tracking # MPIA 20-1114 in any subsequent correspondence pertaining to this matter. All follow up correspondence should be made in writing and submitted to the DCU's e-mail: DCU@baltimorepolice.org<mailto:DCU@baltimorepolice.org>.

Due to COVID-19, and in deference to the Governor's Executive Orders and national public health guidance on social distancing, we are teleworking to the maximum extent possible in this pandemic. Thus, BPD will make available electronically whatever disclosable information it can, upon receipt.

Thank You
Ken Hurst
Contract Specialist
Baltimore Police Department
Office of Legal Affairs
Document Compliance Unit

Beryl Lipton:

The Baltimore City Law Department and the Baltimore Police Department are in receipt of your attached request. The Maryland Public Information Act ("PIA"), codified in Sections 4-101 et seq. of the General Provisions Article of the Maryland Code governs your request. A request for public information under the PIA must be submitted to the custodian of public records. Md. Code, Gen. Prov., § 4-202(a). Each governmental entity, including each Baltimore City agency, is the custodian of its own records. See Baltimore City Code, Art. 1 § 10-1. This response is on behalf of the Baltimore City Law Department and the Police Department.

The responsive document that the Law Department was able to produce from its claims system is attached. This is the same claims system that is used by the Baltimore Police Department. Responsive of your request, this document contains the amounts paid out in each case and a brief description of the event causing the settlement. However, due to attorney-client privilege we are not able to provide any records which discuss the lawyer's and client's thoughts about how and when to settle lawsuits, as this would be a waiver of this privilege. Md. Code, Gen. Prov., §§ 4-343; 4-344; accord A.C. v. Office of the Attorney General, No. 791, Sept. Term, 2016, *28 (February 13, 2018)(unreported)(citing Ehrlich v. Grove, 396 Md. 550, 574-75 (2007) (Lawyers do not lose their status as lawyers simply because they work for the government.). Government lawyers communications with its government clients are privileged. Md. Code, Gen. Prov., § 4-301; Harris v. Baltimore Sun Co., 330 Md. 595 (1993). The government lawyers' thoughts about settling cases contain the "advisory opinion, recommendations and deliberations comprising part of a process by which governmental decisions and policies are formulated" and that the "purpose and intent of the privilege is 'to incorporate generally the recognized rules that confidential intra-agency advisory opinions . . . are privileged from inspection and that the public policy behind that privilege [is] the policy of open, frank discussions between subordinate and chief concerning administrative action.'" A.C. at * 21 (citations omitted). The Supreme Court of the United States explained in the landmark case of Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 512 (1947), that "the general policy against invading the privacy of an attorney's course of preparation is so well recognized and so essential to an orderly working of our system of legal procedure" that it is considered of the utmost confidence.

Additionally, please note that the database from which this information has been pulled only codes matters for auto or general liability incidents, so it may not capture every claim that may be responsive of your request. Further, this spreadsheet does not contain any information for cases within the Maryland Judiciary Court System that may be associated with the claims provided as your requested, because this document only contains information in the manner it is stored by the Baltimore City Police Department and their records do not list the information in this way. Lastly, per your request, the total amount expended in settlements as accounted in the document provided is $3,914,568. Additional information related to these payouts can also be found at the following link which may be of assistance to you: https://law.baltimorecity.gov/case-database<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flaw.baltimorecity.gov%2Fcase-database&data=02%7C01%7C%7C774416a448f94f1439e808d858db7e1c%7C312cb126c6ae4fc2800d318e679ce6c7%7C0%7C0%7C637357047014750294&sdata=L6N49JKh5B4PZKSrxRPQxPLjsEpQvFM6bK1H6Vi1eFw%3D&reserved=0>

Nothing in this response is intended to indicate that any records sought from City agencies exist or to waive any privileges held by the Mayor and City Council. You may contest this response by filing a complaint in Circuit Court pursuant to PIA Section § 4-362.

Sincerely,

[cid:image001.png@01D68AA5.75BC25F0]<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baltimorecity.gov%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C30cdb7bb0c884a02753f08d850e6da31%7C312cb126c6ae4fc2800d318e679ce6c7%7C0%7C0%7C637348299709101716&sdata=sW1M42iVg4NQG2bFFjuvtdyi%2Fz6FRx8FpMNLVVaSk18%3D&reserved=0>
Department of Law

D'ereka Bolden
Assistant City Solicitor
Advice & Opinions Practice Group
Baltimore City Department of Law

100 N. Holliday Street, Suite 101
Baltimore, MD 21202
dereka.bolden@baltimorecity.org<mailto:dereka.bolden@baltimorecity.org>