Before the Presiding Judges of the Administrative Judicial Regions

Per Curiam Rule 12 Decision

APPEAL NO.:                            12-003

RESPONDENT:                         Fort Bend County District Clerk

DATE:                                         August 9, 2012

SPECIAL COMMITTEE:        Judge Stephen B. Ables, Chair; Judge John Ovard; Judge David Peeples; Judge Dean Rucker; Judge Jeff Walker

            Petitioner requested from the Fort Bend County District Clerk (the “Clerk”) “a list of people who responded to a jury notice as ‘non-citizen’ from January 2011 to the most current.”  The Clerk denied Petitioner’s request claiming that the requested information is confidential under Tex. Gov’t Code Sec. 62.0132 and Petitioner filed this appeal.

The requested information at issue in this appeal is provided to the Clerk on written jury summons questionnaires that are required to be completed by persons who have been summoned for jury service by Section 62.0132(d) of the Texas Government Code.  Section 62.0132(f) of the Government Code provides that information contained in a completed juror questionnaire is confidential and Section 62.0132(g) limits its disclosure to court personnel and the judge, the litigant and the litigant’s attorney in the case in which the person was summoned to be a juror.

  Information that is confidential or exempt from disclosure by state statute is also exempt from disclosure under Rule 12.  See Rule 12.5(i), Information Confidential Under Other Law.    Accordingly, we find that the requested information is exempt from disclosure under Rule 12.5(i) and the appeal is denied.