Court opinions issued July 17, 2015

Chiquita Brands Int'l v. Sec. & Exch. Comm'n & Nat'l Sec. Archive (D.C. Cir.) -- in "reverse-FOIA" case decided under Administrative Procedure Act, affirming district court's decision that disclosure of requested records would not deprive appellant of a fair trial within meaning of Exemption 7(B).    

Milner v. U.S. Dep't of Def. (W.D. Wash.) -- ruling that agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with 10 U.S.C. § 130e (critical infrastructure security information); that agency failed to justify its withholding a compilation of "logistical data" under the deliberative process privilege; that Exemption 6 properly protected information concerning high-ranking employees, but agency failed to identify rank of one employee; and that agency improperly refused to search for responsive records that it alleged were previously produced to plaintiff in another proceeding.  

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued July 14, 2015

Hall v. CIA (D.D.C) -- awarding plaintiffs more than $400,000 in interim attorney fees for decade-old litigation pertaining to missing prisoners of war or soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam War era. 

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued July 13, 2015

Am. Civil Liberties Union of N. Cal. v. Dep't of Justice (N.D. Cal.) --  following up on its decision of June 17, 2015, the court held that the Criminal Division could not withhold a "'description and guidance on how cell site simulators and related technologies are utilized and implemented by law enforcement,'" nor "a form designed for the purpose of identifying an unknown phone . . . being used/carried by a known individual."

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued July 10, 2015

Ryan v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- determining that FBI conducted an adequate search of its Central Records System, but that it did not explain whether search of Electronic Sureveillence Indices includes variations of plaintiff's name.    

Agility Pub. Warehousing Co. v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (D.D.C.) -- ruling that NSA properly refused to confirm or deny existence of records of plaintiff's telephone communications pursuant to Exemptions 1 and 3, and that agency performed reasonable search for other requested records. 

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued July 3, 2015

Judicial Watch v. Internal Revenue Serv. (D.D.C.) -- finding that IRS conducted an adequate search in response to plaintiff's request for any records concerning the selection of individuals for audit based on information contained in section 501(c)(4) tax exempt applications.

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued June 30 & July 1, 2015

July 1, 2015

Pacificorp v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency (D. Colo.) -- denying plaintiff's motion for attorney fees because it had a commercial interest in agency's rulemaking records and did not disseminate them to the public. 

Ctr. for the Study of Servs. v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs. (D.D.C.) -- rejecting government's Exemption 4 claim that disclosure of certain information related to health plans offered pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would likely cause competitive harm or undermine program effectiveness; denying each parties' motion for summary judgment, however, and warning each party to submit "a clearer presentation of the facts underlying the case."

Kalu v. Internal Revenue Serv. (D.D.C.) -- ruling that request to IRS was deficient because requester's attorney failed to sign form; Transportation Security Admin. properly used Glomar response for watch-list records, but failed to conduct adequate search for other records; and FBI's use of Gomar response for watch-list records likely was proper, but agency's motion for summary judgment inexplicably did not address issue. 

June 30, 2015

Debrew v. Atwood (D.C. Cir.) -- remanding in part and affirming in part Bureau of Prison's action on FOIA requests; finding that BOP's search was adequate with respect to requested telephone records, that requester failed to exhaust administrative remedies as to his request for records about a DNA statute, and that agency neglected to adequately describe its search for records about an internal BOP policy.

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here. 

Court opinions issued June 29, 2015

Taylor v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (11th Cir.) -- holding that agency properly issued Glomar response in conjunction with Exemption 1 in response to pro se requester's request for records about himself.

Speaking Truth To Power v. U.S. Nat'l Nuclear Sec. Admin. (E.D. Pa.) -- granting NNSA's motion for summary judgment after finding that agency had consucted an adequate search; stating that although agency's declaration "did not expressly state that 'all files likely to contain responsive materials ... were searched,' such magic words are not required when, as here, a reasonably detailed affidavit describes a thorough search of those places where responsive documentation is likely to be found."  

Rodriguez v. Dep't of Justice (S.D. Ohio) -- finding that Drug Enforcement Admin. properly invoked Exemption 7(D) to protect information provided by a confidential source, that plaintiff failed to show that such information had been disclosed during his trial, and that DEA conducted a reasonable search for other requested records.   

Long v. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (D.D.C.) -- ruling that nonprofit organization qualified as both an educational institution and a representative of the news media for fee purposes.  See related article from Courthouse News Service here.  

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here. 

Court opinions issued June 24-25, 2015

June 25, 2015

Bethea v. USDA (D.S.C.) -- adopting Magistrate's report and recommendation to require agency to conduct a further search.

June 24, 2015

Gahagan v. DOJ (E.D. La.) -- ruling that Immigration & Customs Enforcement failed to adequately explain why it searched only electronic files; that Executive Office for Immigration Review was required to search files that would "likely" contain responsive records, not where they would "most likely" be found; and that no particular format was required for government's Vaughn Index -- a declaration could suffice.          

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here. 

Court opinions issued June 22-23, 2015

June 23, 2015

Am. Immigration Lawyers Ass'n v. Exec. Office for Immigration Review (D.D.C) --  holding that agency was not required to process non-responsive information so long as it "'is clearly and without any doubt unrelated to the subject of the request'  and its redaction will not interfere with [plaintiff's] ability to understand or contextualize the responsive material; further holding that agency was permitted to raise exemption claims for material that it had previously withheld as non-responsive.

June 22, 2015

Ellis v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- determining that government properly withheld requested drug surveillance records under Exemption 5 (attorney-client privilege) and that it conducted an adequate search.

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here. 

Court opinions issued June 18, 2015

Prison Legal News v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (W.D. Wash.) -- determining that Exemption 4 did not protect company's 2009 performance incentive rate; declaring that government's delay in responding to FOIA request was "egregious," and stating that plaintiff was eligible and entitled to reasonable attorney fees.   

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.