In Case No. A15A2303, E. Kendrick Smith, an attorney, appeals the trial court’s dismissal, after a bench trial, of his action to compel Northside Hospital, Inc. and its parent company, Northside Health Services, Inc. collectively, “Northside”, to provide him with access to certain documents in response to his request under the Georgia Open Records Act “GORA” or “the Act”.1 On appeal, Smith argues that the trial court erred in finding that the documents were not “public records” within the meaning of the Act and in ordering a separate trial to determine whether those documents are exempt from the Act as trade secrets. Northside cross-appeals in Case No. A15A2304, arguing that the trial court erred by preventing it from seeking any information regarding the identity of Smith’s client or clients, who Northside believed were the actual parties behind the GORA request, and Smith’s purpose for bringing this lawsuit. For the reasons set forth infra, we affirm the trial court’s dismissal of Smith’s case and dismiss Northside’s cross-appeal as moot.
The facts relevant to this appeal are largely undisputed.2 In 1966, the Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fulton County passed a resolution creating the Fulton County Hospital Authority the “Authority”, which would “have and exercise all of the powers granted and prescribed in the Hospital Authority Laws.”3 The Authority was created because of the need in Fulton County for improved and increased hospital facilities to serve the community. And to that end, the Authority opened Northside Hospital, which it owned and operated for approximately the next 25 years. In the early 1990s, the Authority, recognizing “the rapidly changing healthcare environment in which it operated,” undertook a study, with the help of consultants, to determine how best to improve the hospital’s operations. Ultimately, the Authority concluded that the best option to achieve its goals was to restructure through a long-term lease of the hospital and related assets for operation by a private, charitable, nonprofit corporation. The Authority further determined that “recent developments and opportunities affecting the ability of the hospital to remain competitive and to enhance its position as a principal provider of specialty healthcare services . . . reinforced the importance of restructuring to the long term competitive position of the hospital.”
