In re Quinn

On November 10, 1992, a 19-year-old woman filed a complaint alleging that she had been raped by Peter Daniel Quinn (plaintiff), a professional hockey player, in a hotel room in Bloomington, Minnesota. At the time of the alleged assault, the woman was accompanied by two of her friends and Quinn was accompanied by two of his teammates. Immediately following the woman’s complaint, the police commenced an investigation. As part of the investigation, the police obtained a search warrant for the hotel room and interviewed witnesses. Following the investigation, the police chief concluded that a sexual assault had occurred, and he recommended the prosecution of Quinn. However, the city attorney declined to press charges. Shortly thereafter, Quinn and his two teammates obtained a temporary restraining order that prohibited the city from releasing any information regarding the investigation to the public. Quinn asserted that, under the state’s open-records laws, he had the right to have his identity protected in order to prevent damage to property. Specifically, Quinn asserted a property interest in his professional reputation as a hockey star. The district court granted Quinn five days to file for an expungement. A number of media outlets then filed a motion to intervene, requesting access to the file. In addition, the alleged victim and her two friends requested to see the file and to have their names stricken. The district court denied the various motions to access the records and ordered the records to be expunged and the file to be sealed, and the court of appeals affirmed.