Stonehill v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in case involving investigatory records of plaintiff’s deceased husband’s business in the Philippines, concluding that: (1) Tax Division was permitted to amend its Answer to add res judicata defense, but rejecting agency’s defense on merits concerning request for “records from 1957-1976 concerning Mr. Stonehill”; (2) rejecting Tax Division’s res judicata defense to request concerning Philippine’s national bureau of investigations; (3) ordering agency to complete processing of request that it neglected for three years—which the court called “unacceptable”—and to justify any withholdings on renewed summary judgment; (4) Tax Division performed adequate search for records concerning government consultant, but finding agency’s earlier errors “troubling” and urging agency to take “greater care in the future”; (5) Tax Division properly relied on Exemptions 5, 6, and 7(C) to withhold some, but not all, records identified in the Tax Division’s opening brief and rejecting plaintiff’s assertion of government misconduct exception; and (6) Tax Division failed to justify its Exemption 5 withholdings for records located after it filed its opening brief and denying agency’s request to submit sampling Vaughn Index.

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