Portland City Councilor Dan Ryan’s personal phone was traded in on Oct. 1, the same day a Multnomah County judge ordered him to preserve messages and other records that could relate to city business, according to court filings. Ryan said in a court declaration that his spouse exchanged the phone while he was away. He said he had left it at home because it would not hold a charge, did not know about the order at the time of the trade-in and had no intention of violating it. Ryan also said he believed the phone’s information, including messages and metadata, had been preserved, and that the replacement phone would be kept during the litigation. The temporary restraining order, issued by Judge Judith Matarazzo, followed a Sept. 1 lawsuit seeking records from Ryan and the city of Portland. The case concerns communications about city business on Ryan’s private devices that were not produced in response to a public records request. Ryan’s declaration says his personal phone had been set since March to automatically delete messages after 30 days. He said he backed up the phone on Feb. 12. The court order requires him to preserve that backup, along with relevant records on his devices. It remains unclear whether all messages and metadata from the traded-in phone are available. Oregon law generally treats communications by elected officials about their official duties as public records, including communications on personal devices, subject to limited exceptions. City councilors also receive city-issued phones and computers, whose records are protected from deletion by city archiving software. Before the order, the Mercury’s attorney asked Ryan’s counsel to disable automatic deletion while the case proceeded. Deputy City Attorney Trevor Byrd replied on Sept. 30 that Ryan had not done so and was declining to do so at that time. Byrd argued that communications preserved under a court order would have been created after Aug. 30 and would not be relevant or discoverable evidence. The city has separately asked the court to quash subpoenas seeking communications that may be held by five individuals and the organizations they represent: the Portland Police Association, Northwest Oregon Labor Council, Portland Metro Chamber, BMO Real Estate and AFSCME Local 189. The city argues the requested records are unrelated to the dispute and that the subpoenas improperly seek private records from people and organizations that are not parties to the case. The court was scheduled to hear arguments on whether to issue a preliminary injunction requiring Ryan to continue preserving potentially relevant evidence. Byrd told the court the councilor did not intend to oppose that request. The lawsuit may test how public records law applies when city officials conduct public business on personal devices. A similar issue arose in a 2022 case involving former Mayor Ted Wheeler, who said he traded in a personal phone used for city business after being served legal documents. The city later settled that case and released records. Ryan’s office did not respond to a request for comment, and the city attorney’s office declined to comment. The Mercury is the plaintiff in the current case and is seeking records, not monetary damages.