US West Communications, Inc. v. Office of Consumer Advocate

US West, Inc. (West) owned US West Communications, Inc., and US West Real Estate, Inc. (collectively, the US companies) (defendants). In 1991 the Denver Business Journal published a series of articles about the US companies and their leasing practices. Specifically, the articles alleged that the US companies established inflated lease rates during leasing transactions among the US companies and that the inflated costs were then passed on to their ratepayers. In 1992 the US companies were engaged in rate proceedings, and the Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) commenced an investigation regarding the reasonableness of its leasing activities. As part of the investigation, the OCA obtained documents pertaining to the US companies under an agreement of confidentiality. Specifically, the agreement provided that documents would not be released until West could litigate the question of whether the documents met an exemption for disclosure. Thomas Locke (plaintiff), a news writer, filed a request for the documents that the US companies had provided to the OCA pursuant to Iowa’s open-records law. The US companies filed an action against the OCA to prevent the release of its lease information. The US companies contended that the lease information constituted trade secrets and reports to government agencies that would afford their competitors an unfair advantage if released under the open-records law. Locke claimed that the lease information did not meet these exceptions.