Org. for Competitive Mkts. v. USDA-OIG (D.D.C.) — granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant agency and intervenor National Cattlemen’s Beef Association more than 4 1/2 years after briefing ended; holding, first, that USDA-OIG conducted an adequate search, despite the requester not challenging its sufficency; similarly entering judgment in favor of the agency vis-a-vis its use of Exemptions 7(C) and 7(C), despite no opposition from the requester; upholding the agency’s use of Exemption 6, in light of the requester’s abandoned arguments; ruling that the agency properly invoked Exemption 4 to withhold information concerning “Beef Checkoff Contractors” and “Qualified State Beef Councils” assuch information (e.g., “financial reports, accounting ledgers, budgets, and vendor contact information) was “generally treated as private by the owner of the records”; rejecting the requester’s arguments that an assurance of privacy is a “necessary condition” for withholding; ruling further that the agency properly invoked Exemption 5 and the deliberative-process privilege to protect draft audit reports and audit-related communications, and rejecting the requester’s appeal to the “government misconduct exception”; finally, concluding that the agency conducted an adequate segregability review.
Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.