Judge Rejects Trade Secret Claim; Orders CalPERS to Release Records Detailing $100 Million Real Estate Investment Loss

A San Francisco Superior Court judge has ordered the California Public Employees' Retirement System ("CalPERS") to release records concerning a real estate investment in which it lost $100 million, in a case brought by the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit public interest organization dedicated to advancing openness in government.

The retirement had fund claimed the documents were exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act, inter alia, because they constituted trade secrets. However, the Court found that CalPERS, a public agency, had failed to meet its burden of demonstrating that the records in question were exempt. Although CalPERS had claimed the documents were exempt, it offered only conclusory evidence to support its position, which did not address any of the particular documents being withheld.

The Court found that "[a]ssurances of confidentiality cannot convert public records into private records," and that, even if there were any trade secrets involved, a balancing of interests would have been required. In this case, the entirety of a $100 million investment had been lost by the public agency. On balance, the Court held, the interest in disclosure "far outweighs" any asserted interest in non-disclosure.

The case is First Amendment Coalition v. California Public Employees' Retirement System, San Francisco Superior Court Case No. CPF-10-510552.