Opinion
04-28-2016
In the Matter of Paul KAIRIS, Appellant, v. Brian FISCHER, as Commissioner of Corrections and Community Supervision, Respondent.
Paul Kairis, Wallkill, appellant pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Jeffrey W. Lang of counsel), for respondent.
Paul Kairis, Wallkill, appellant pro se.
Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Jeffrey W. Lang of counsel), for respondent.
Before: GARRY, J.P., EGAN JR., LYNCH, DEVINE and CLARK, JJ.
LYNCH, J.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Cahill, J.), entered December 4, 2014 in Albany County, which dismissed petitioner's application, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, to review two determinations of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision denying petitioner's requests under the Freedom of Information Law.
Petitioner, an inmate, commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding to challenge two determinations denying his requests for the disclosure of certain documents under the Freedom of Information Law (see Public Officers Law art. 6 [hereinafter FOIL] ). The documents sought in one of his FOIL requests pertained to him being transferred to another correctional facility pursuant to a request from a staff member. When this case was previously before this Court, the record before us did not contain the documents requested and we remitted the matter to Supreme Court to undertake an in camera review (110 A.D.3d 1408, 973 N.Y.S.2d 887 [2013] ). Following a review, Supreme Court concluded that the documents that related to his transfer were exempt from disclosure under Public Officers Law § 87(2)(f). Petitioner now appeals.
Inasmuch as petitioner does not raise any issues in his brief with respect to the denial of his separate FOIL request for, among other things, documents related to the Family Reunion Program, any challenge thereto is deemed abandoned (see Matter of Gathers v. Artus, 59 A.D.3d 795, 795, 873 N.Y.S.2d 753 [2009] ).
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"Under FOIL, agency records are presumptively available for public inspection, without regard to the need or purpose of the applicant, unless the requested documents fall within one of the exemptions set forth in Public Officers Law § 87(2)" (Matter of Hearst Corp. v. New York State Police, 109 A.D.3d 32, 34, 966 N.Y.S.2d 557 [2013] [citations omitted]; see Matter of Aurigemma v. New York State Dept. of Taxation & Fin., 128 A.D.3d 1235, 1236–1237, 9 N.Y.S.3d 711 [2015] ). "Public Officers Law § 87(2)(f) exempts from disclosure materials that, if disclosed, could endanger the life or safety of any person" (Matter of Williamson v. Fischer, 116 A.D.3d 1169, 1170, 984 N.Y.S.2d 194 [2014] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted], lv. denied 24 N.Y.3d 904, 2014 WL 4548550 [2014] ; see Matter of Hynes v. Fischer, 101 A.D.3d 1188, 1190, 956 N.Y.S.2d 604 [2012] ). "The agency in question need only demonstrate a possibility of endangerment in order to invoke this exemption" (Matter of Bellamy v. New York City Police Dept., 87 A.D.3d 874, 875, 930 N.Y.S.2d 178 [2011] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted], affd. 20 N.Y.3d 1028, 960 N.Y.S.2d 343, 984 N.E.2d 317 [2013] ; see Matter of Williamson v. Fischer, 116 A.D.3d at 1170–1171, 984 N.Y.S.2d 194 ). Based upon our in camera review of the documents, we are satisfied that the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has met its burden of demonstrating that disclosure of the requested material could potentially endanger the safety of a person or persons (see Matter of Williamson v. Fischer, 116 A.D.3d at 1171, 984 N.Y.S.2d 194 ; Matter of Hynes v. Fischer, 101 A.D.3d at 1190, 956 N.Y.S.2d 604 ). Accordingly, the request was properly denied.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.
GARRY, J.P., EGAN JR., DEVINE and CLARK, JJ., concur.