Court opinions issued Nov. 19, 2015

Thompson v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C) -- ruling that the Criminal Division conducted a reasonable search for information related to court-authorized wiretap surveillance in connection with plaintiff's criminal case.  The court found that the agency performed a reasonable search and properly withheld seven categories of documents pursuant to the attorney-work-product privilege.  Despite prevailing, the government was chided by the court for failing to identify three FOIA lawsuits of plaintiff's criminal co-defendants as "related cases" and for copying 15 pages from its summary judgment motion and pasting them into its reply brief.    

Nolen v. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- holding that FBI performed an adequate search for records concerning Martin Droll, a deceased socialist writer and organizer.  The court concluded that the agency was not required to search the files of organizations with whom the subject was affiliated, because plaintiff failed to identify those organizations in his request.  Additionally, the court held that the FBI field offices located where plaintiff was born and died were not required as a matter of course to search for records.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Nov. 17, 2015

Kohake v. Dep't of the Treasury (6th Cir.) -- affirming lower court's decision that Internal Revenue Service conducted a reasonable search for records concerning the Estate of William Meadors, which allegedly holds vast fortunes to which plaintiff claims she is entitled.  In reaching its decision, the Sixth Circuit held that the IRS was not required to search for certain records maintained by a U.S. Attorney's Office or county courthouse.    

Am. Civil Liberties Union of N. Cal. v. Fed. Bureau of Investigation (N.D. Cal.) -- finding that FBI failed to show that the attorney-client privilege justified the agency's redactions of 'Human Source Advisory Notices" or the complete withholding of "FAQs for Threat Assessments."  The court further found that FBI improperly relied on the deliberative process privilege to withhold a red-lined version of a "training FAQ," stating that FBI had not demonstrated that "advice about whether a comma should be inserted, word choice, or phrasing would discourage members of the Bureau from providing candid advice about the pros and cons of adopting a policy or practice."

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Nov. 16, 2015

Slaughter v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (E.D. Pa) -- dismissing case for lack of standing because plaintiff did not submit the FOIA request at issue; rather, the request was submitted by plaintiff's attorney in his own name and failed to mention plaintiff at all.

Glapion v. Castro (D. Colo.) -- concluding that Department of Housing and Urban Development conducted an adequate search and that it properly withheld: (1) disciplinary information of agency employees under Exemption 6, and (2) communications between agency officials pertaining to plaintiff under Exemption 5 (deliberative process and attorney-client privileges).  The court also dismissed several claims because plaintiff had failed to administratively appeal the agency's responses. 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued November 13, 2015

Mobley v. CIA (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court's decision involving requests for records about plaintiff's detention in Yemen.  The D.C Circuit upheld the adequacy of the FBI's search, rejecting plaintiff's argument that the agency was required to search certain records systems merely because plaintiff had asked it to do so.  The Court also rejected plaintiff's contention that the FBI and CIA had waived Exemption 1 by providing certain information to the Yemeni government, which subsequently provided the information to a party that filed it in court.  Further, the Court rejected plaintiff's argument that the FBI had failed to properly classify certain records.   

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinions issued Nov. 10, 2015

Allison v. U.S. Marshals Serv. (D. Idaho) -- ruling in government's favor after finding that:  (1) requested police records were not in agency's possession and that a sealed court record was not improperly withheld; and (2) plaintiff failed to administratively appeal agency's search methodology or its exemption claims with respect to remaining requested records.

Pinson v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- granting in part and denying in part summary judgment motion of the Executive Office for the United States Attorneys.  The court found that plaintiff had failed to appeal certain agency responses, but held that plaintiff was not required to appeal responses that the agency had made after plaintiff filed his initial Complaint.  The court further held that EOUSA's declaration failed to demonstrate that the agency's search was adequate, noting the declaration's description of the search was "so general that it could describe virtually any search undertaken in response to a FOIA request."

 Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Nov. 6, 2015

Elec. Frontier Found. v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce (9th Cir.) -- vacating and remanding district court's decision that export licensing records were not protected by the Export Administration Act of 1979, which had expired in 2001, in light of the enactment of a law after the district court's decision that appeared to retroactively revive the Act.  

 Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Nov. 4, 2015

Gawker Media, LLC v. FBI (M.D. Fla.) -- granting in part and denying in part the government's motion for summary judgment concerning plaintiff's request for records concerning investigation of extortion involving "Hulk Hogan" sex tape.  The court granted government's Exemption 6 claims with respect to Hulk Hogan's family members, but denied those claims for individuals who had voluntarily publicized their involvement, the names of private attorneys, and certain government employees.  The court further found that the government had properly invoked Exemptions 3, 5, and 7(E).  However, the court reserved ruling on certain exemption claims made by the Executive Office of United States Attorneys pending an in camera review of records.    

Gahagan v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (E.D. La.) -- denying the parties' motions for summary judgment and ordering the government to submit a revised Vaughn Index that "more clearly identifies each redaction within the documents and clearly explains the relevance of each applied exemption, in particular exemption (k)(2)" of the Privacy Act. 

Gahagan v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (E.D. La.) -- ruling that plaintiff was ineligible for attorneys' fees and costs because plaintiff presented no evidence to show that the ultimate disclosure of the requested documents -- two months after the FOIA request -- resulted from the filing of his lawsuit, rather than merely administrative problems.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Nov. 3, 2015

Bothwell v. Brennan (N.D. Cal.) -- concluding that the Central Intelligence Agency conducted an adequate search of its operational files for records generated in 1976 concerning Johnny Roselli.  In reaching its decision, the court rejected plaintiff's argument that the CIA should have searched and reviewed the actual, hard-copy paper files after the agency found no responsive records through inquiries of its electronic databases.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Oct. 30, 2015

Dean v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- determining that Drug Enforcement Administration performed an adequate search for a "cooperating individual agreement" that was used to prosecute plaintiff in 1991; noting that DEA was not required to "undertake 'fruitless' inquiries" to former employees of Department of Justice or Department of Homeland Security.    

Springer v. U.S. Attorney for the N. Dist. of Okla. (N.D. Okla.) -- granting government's summary judgment after finding that Executive Office for United States Attorneys had provided plaintiff with all non-exempt records and performed a reasonable search.

Electric Frontier Found. v. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C., 2015) -- ruling that an opinion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was exempt from disclosure under Exemptions 1 and 3 because the opinion was properly classified and because its disclosure was prohibited by 50 U.S.C. §§ 3605, 3024(i)(1).  The court rejected the government's argument that plaintiff's action was barred by collateral estoppel; it further rejected plaintiff's argument that the government had waived its right to withhold the requested record.    

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Oct. 27, 2015

Citizens for Ethics & Responsibility in Wash. v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- awarding plaintiff $32,865.19 for attorneys' fee and costs in connection with its request concerning John Ensign, former Senator from Nevada. The court reduced plaintiff's request for $64,327.40 after determining that plaintiff relied upon an inappropriate matrix to calculate hourly attorney rates, that a portion of plaintiff's fee motion was unsuccessful, and that plaintiff failed to adhere to standards for contemporaneous timekeeping.  

Piccone v. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (E.D. Va.) -- determining that USPTO performed a reasonable search for records concerning its investigation of plaintiff, an attorney who the prosecuted cases before the agency even though his law license had been suspended.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.