PORTLAND - The Oregon Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling that prevented public access to school district records claimed as privileged communication between an attorney and a client.

A Klamath Falls man had requested the records from the Klamath County School District in 2002 after the district declined to publicly release the results of an investigation into its finances.

Bert Teamey, who made the request, went to the Klamath County district attorney's office to force the school district to turn over the records, and the district attorney ordered the records released.

But the school district went to court, claiming those records were protected from disclosure because the district had hired an attorney to run the investigation.

A trial court ruled in favor of the school district, and that ruling was upheld last August by the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The Oregon Supreme Court declined review last week, letting the ruling stand.

In its ruling, the Oregon Court of Appeals said the case “involves the intersection of two legal principles: the attorney-client privilege and the public's right of access to government records.”

But the court concluded the records in the Klamath Falls case were “confidential communications” that fell under the attorney-client privilege and “were therefore exempt from disclosure.”

The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, which filed a friend of the court brief to support Teamey, had hoped the case would help better define public records.

“Definitely, we would not want to interfere with the ability of an attorney to talk with a client,” said LeRoy Yorgason, ONPA executive director.

“Even we, as newspeople, want to talk to our attorneys,” Yorgason said. “But when it comes to a public body, we would like to separate out those documents that would normally be public without an attorney present.”

Bradford Aspell, who argued the case for Teamey, said he was disappointed by the ruling because it could encourage government agencies to avoid disclosure of sensitive issues by simply referring them to an attorney.

“Quite frankly, this case provides a road map to hide anything that is potentially embarrassing to a public body,” Aspell said.

But James Uerlings, a Klamath Falls lawyer who represented the school district, said he doubted the ruling would have much effect on attorney-client privilege or its use by government agencies.

“I've represented public agencies and municipalities for over 30 years and they're very conscious about the public's right to know,” Uerlings said. “I have talked to a number of other attorneys around the state, and everybody is still going to be very careful about using attorney-client privilege.”

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the ruling did not surprise her, and followed a national trend.

“There are very few things judges are more loathe to interfere with than attorney-client privilege,” Dalglish said.

Yorgason said the newspaper association would ask the Legislature to consider new laws to more sharply define access to public records.

The ONPA brief was filed on behalf of 25 newspapers and The Associated Press.