Below is a summary of the notable FOIA court decisions and news from last month, as well as a look ahead to FOIA events in October.
Court decisions:
We identified and posted 38 decisions issued in September, the highest monthly total of the calendar year. A number of decisions stood out. The Department of Defense was twice rapped on the knuckles for summarily denying duplicate requests. See Walsh v. Dep’t of the Navy (D.S.D Sept. 4, 2024) (holding, in most relevant part, that the Navy’s denial of plaintiff’s duplicative request was improper because the agency failed to cite any applicable exemptions, contrary to Eighth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court precedent); Wonder v. Dep’t of the Army Office of Gen. Counsel (D.D.C. Sept. 11, 2024) (concluding that plaintiff’s failure to exhaust his 2012 and 2014 requests for a legal memo concerning his security clearance did not bar plaintiff’s duplicate 2022 request, which was fully exhausted). Further, a requester drew a costly rebuke in Louise Trauma Ctr. v. Wolf (D.D.C. Sept. 18, 2024), a case in which plaintiff was found to be both eligible and entitled to attorney’s fees but was denied any award because of vague and erroneous time records, “extraordinarily lack of billing judgment,” and its history of “unreasonable and improper billing practices.” And the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held—in a case of first impression in that circuit—that a requester is not required to file an administrative appeal when an agency issues a response after requester has properly filed a lawsuit. See Corbett v. Transp. Sec. Admin. (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2024).
Top News:
The 2024-2026 term of the federal FOIA Advisory Committee kicked off its work with two full Committee meetings on September 9th and September 13th.
On September 26, 2024, the Office of Government Information Services published the results of four FOIA-related survey questions from the 2023 Records Management Self-Assessment. Earlier in the month, OGIS reminded agencies about the government’s guidance on still-interested letters.
On September 12, 2024, the Office of Information Policy issued an updated list of qualifying Exemption 3 statutes.
October calendar:
Oct. 11, 2024: The D.C. Circuit will hear oral argument in Hall v. CIA, No. 22-5235, which will consider whether the CIA performed an adequate search for records related to Vietnam War prisoners of war.
Oct. 16, 2024: Chief FOIA Officer Report Refresher Training by OIP.
Oct.. 24, 2024: The D.C. Circuit will hear oral argument in Human Rights Defense Center v. U.S. Park Police, No. 23-5236, which concerns the applicability of Exemption 6 to withheld records and whether inadvertently released records may be clawed back by the agency.
Oct. 25, 2024: Due date for agency Quarter 4 FOIA data.
Oct. 29, 2024. Annual Summit hosted by OPEXUS.