Hampton Police Association, Inc. v. Town of Hampton
Annotate this CaseIn September, 2009, counsel for the Hampton Police Association wrote to the Town of Hampton’s Manager requesting copies of invoices from all attorneys who gave advice to or otherwise represented the Town in a grievance and arbitration matter. The Association sought the invoices under the state “Right-to-Know” law. The next day, the Town Manager advised the Association that invoices from its attorneys contained confidential detailed billing narratives that were privileged information, and not subject to the Right-to-Know law. Understanding this, the Association replied to the Town Manager, suggesting the Town hand over the invoices with all the privileged information redacted. The Association sought information relating to the amounts of money the Town spent on counsel, not the information in the narratives. The Town still refused to produce the invoices, and the Association took the Town to court. Town counsel provided the trial court with the invoices for an in camera review. The court ordered the release of the invoices, and ordered the Town to make the copies. The Town objected to all the “extra work,” and the trial court amended its order to require the Town and its outside counsel to compile a list of the invoices with the general subject matter of the matters billed, and the total prices paid. The Town maintained that discussing the narratives even in a general sense, still constituted privileged information. The court denied the Town any relief from compiling the list, and the Town appealed. The Supreme Court concluded that the trial court erred when it required the Town to create an entirely new document to provide the Association with the information it sought. The Court remanded the case for further proceedings, ordering that the Town should produce the invoices with privileged information redacted.
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