The city of Dallas scored a divided appellate victory to withhold attorney-client privileged information under the state’s open records law, even though it had missed a deadline under the law.
Under the Texas Public Information Act, a governmental entity has 10 days to request an attorney general opinion if it seeks to withhold records. Missing deadline means the records are presumed public unless the governmental entity shows a “compelling reason” to withhold them. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott had found the city waived the attorney-client privilege by missing its deadline.
