FOIA Advisor

Court opinions issued August 24-25, 2015

Court Opinions (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

August 25, 2015

Cause Action v. Fed. Trade Comm'n (D.C. Cir.) -- reversing district court's decision that the last of plaintiff's three requests was moot for purposes of determining its fee status; further clarifying the definition of a "representative of the news media" and ordering district court to evaluate plaintiff's status in light of D.C. Circuit's opinion.  See related article here.    

[Note: Mr. Blutstein co-represented Cause of Action in this appellate case] 

Willaman v. Erie Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms (3rd Cir.) -- affirming ATF's determination that plaintiff's request was not reasonably described inasmuch as it consisted of a question, which FOIA does not require an agency to answer.

August 24, 2015

Judicial Watch v. Internal Revenue Serv. (D.D.C.) -- granting IRS's motion for summary judgment after finding that records located by the agency consisted of "return information," which plaintiff had stipulated would not be responsive to its request; further finding that plaintiff conceded the adequacy of the agency's search by failing to oppose the agency's arguments pertaining to the subject.    

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.