Finders Keepers USA, LLC v. Dep’t of Justice (D.D.C.) — on renewed cross-motions for summary judgment, granting in part and denying in part each party’s motion; on the question of search adequacy, (1) finding that the FBI’s chosen search terms were “reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents,” (2) rejecting the agency’s cut-off date (i.e., the date of its initial search) as unreasonable because it “should have looked for records through the date of its second search,” and (3) again identifying deficiencies in the FBI’s averments that it searched all files likely to contain responsive material, given the facts of the case and prior proceedings; similarly ruling that the search for certain DVD videos was reasonable; deciding that “a genuine dispute of fact” exists as to whether the FBI was required to produce all versions of a particular operational plan; and, finally, rejecting once again the FBI’s invocation of Exemption 7(E) for failure to identify the risks of circumvention of the law, and for failure to satisfy the foreseeable-harm standard; ordering in camera review and further proceedings.
Francis v. Internal Revenue Serv. (D.D.C.) — granting the agency’s combined motions to dismiss and for summary judgment; dismissing as moot several counts in the complaint because the IRS located responsive records and released them in full, and there was no further challenge to the adequacy of the relevant searches; concluding that, with respect to another count, the requester failed to exhaust administrative remedies by admittedly failing to file an appeal before initiating the lawsuit; rejecting another two counts as pertaining to improper or invalid FOIA requests that “sought information and not records”; and, finally, ruling the IRS conducted an adequate search for all remaining counts, and rejecting the requester’s arguments that the agency “acted in bad faith through its false and misleading representations.”
Tsai v. United States (D.D.C.) — in relevant part, granting the IRS’s motion for summary judgment and holding that the agency conducted an adequate search; noting an apparent “gap between what [the requester] had actually requested and what he . . . intended to request,” but accepting the agency’s arguments that post-submission modification or enlargement of the scope of the request was improper given its “four-corners”; declining to strike the agency’s supporting declaration for lack of personal knowledge because, “[i]n the FOIA context, ‘declarants are not required to have personal knowledge of the search itself, but rather ‘personal knowledge of the procedures used in handling [a FOIA] request and familiarity with the documents in question.’”
White v. Dep’t of Agric. (E.D. Okla.) — denying the agency’s motion for summary judgment and rejecting the adequacy of its search for records about the Rural Development Division’s rental assistance program; explaining that, while the agency’s supporting declaration “indicates that all the records in USDA possession have been produced, it contains no averments pertaining to the agency’s search” methodology, including descriptions of search terms and the types of searches actually performed.
Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.