Contractor-Held Docs Not Covered by FOIA, 10th Circ. Rules

Daniel Wilson, Law360, Jan. 8, 2017

The U.S. Forest Service was not legally obligated under the Freedom of Information Act to cough up to an environmental group land swap agreement documents that were held by third-party contractors and never seen by the agency, the Tenth Circuit ruled Friday.

Although the disputed documents were created as part of contractual work for the Forest Service, they were neither created by nor used by the agency, and therefore were not “agency records” required to be provided to Rocky Mountain Wild Inc., a three-judge panel ruled [. . .]

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See copy of court opinion here.