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Court opinions issued Dec. 18, 2018

Elect. Privacy Inf. Ctr. v. IRS (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that IRS properly withheld Donald Trump’s tax returns, but finding that proper basis for withholding was Exemption 3, in conjunction with 26 U.S.C. § 6103, rather than plaintiff’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

Reyes v. NARA (D.D.C.) -- awarding plaintiff $429.20 in costs and $19,939.20 in attorney’s fees (reduced from $29,450.80 due to duplicative efforts of plaintiff’s attorneys) for substantially prevailing in case concerning records of female Filipino guerrilla fighters during World War 2. Notably, the court held that its consent order memorializing the parties’ mutually agreed upon production schedule was sufficient to establish plaintiff’s eligibility for fees, rejecting NARA’s argument to the contrary.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.