Goyer v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Jacqueline Goyer (plaintiff) was employed by the New York Assembly. For approximately nine years, the assembly requested information from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (the department) (defendant) regarding its issuance of deer-management permits. Effective in 2002, the deer-management-permit information was stored in a combined centralized computer management program that included deer-management permits as part of all hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses issued by the department. Specifically, the database contained the private information gathered from the license applications, such as the applicant’s height, weight, driver’s license number, medical restrictions, military service, residential address, and personal telephone number. In addition to the licenses, the computer management program also contained the personal information of the department’s magazine subscribers. In February 2004, acting both as a citizen taxpayer and as an employee of the assembly, Goyer submitted an open-records request for the deer-management-permit applications. Specifically, Goyer requested that the records be produced in an electronic format including a copy of the file layout, the codes used and what the codes referred to, and the total record count. The department denied the request, citing that its disclosure of the records would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Specifically, the department asserted that information regarding the individual deer-management permits should be treated as private information because it pertained to the applicant’s personal hobby. Additionally, the department raised security concerns, asserting that the release of the applicants’ personal information could alert outsiders of the applicants’ firearms ownership, thereby leading to home break-ins or identity theft. Goyer appealed the department’s decision, seeking the release of the documents. Goyer contended that the focus of her request was on the licenses and not the individuals. Goyer further asserted that other government-issued licenses, such as business licenses, had been subject to disclosure.