Leopold v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (D.D.C.) -- ordering DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel to employ a Clearwell eDiscovery tool to search the email files of departed OLC attorneys for any records related to surveillance of federal and state judges.
Offor v. EEOC (E.D.N.Y.) -- dismissing case as moot because plaintiff received her case file with only modest redactions to three of the 265 pages, which she did not contest.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
July 7, 2016
Shah v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (E.D. Ark.) -- finding that plaintiff failed to file administrative appeals in connection with three of his five requests to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and that the agency properly withheld certain information under Exemptions 6, 7(C), and 7(F).
Atlasware, LLC v. Soc. Sec. Admin. (W.D. Ark.) -- dismissing lawsuit because plaintiff's attorney failed to identify his client in the request or administrative appeal. In dicta, the court rejected plaintiff's argument that agency's cloud computing made venue proper under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B).
July 6, 2016
Freedom Watch, Inc. v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (D.D.C.) -- determining that the CIA and Department of Defense conducted adequate searches regarding a military helicopter shot down in Afghanistan, that they properly withheld certain information pursuant to Exemptions 1, 3, 5, and 6, and that they released all non-exempt, reasonably segregable information.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
Competitive Enterprise Inst. v. Office of Sci. & Tech. Policy (D.C. Cir.) -- reversing district court's decision that agency was not required to search for requested records maintained in the private email account of agency's director. In reaching its decision, the court explained that “an agency always acts through its employees and officials. If one of them possesses what would otherwise be agency records, the records do not lose their agency character just because the official who possesses them takes them out the door or because he is the head of the agency.”
Moon v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons (E.D. Mo.) -- dismissing suit because plaintiff failed to pay fees associated with his request, i.e., he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
June 28, 2016
Bayala v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (D.C. Cir.) -- reversing district court's decision that plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, because the agency decision that plaintiff did not administratively appeal before filing suit was abandoned in part and modified in part by the agency in litigation.
Wilson v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- finding that the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys properly relied upon Exemption 7(C) to protect third-party information in plaintiff's criminal case file, but declining to grant summary judgment because EOUSA's declaration failed to establish that a reasonable search had been performed.
June 27, 2016
Reedom v. Soc. Sec. Admin. (D.D.C.) -- dismissing suit against three agencies because plaintiff failed to submit proper authorization forms, failed to pay fees, failed to reasonably describe records sought, failed to submit administrative appeals, or failed to wait 20 days for appeal response before filing suit.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (D.D.C.) -- granting in part and denying in part government's summary judgment motion in case involving the Hemisphere Project, a mass telephone surveillance program. The court found that the DEA: (1) conducted a reasonable search for documents addressing the privacy impact of the program; (2) properly withheld a draft legal memorandum under the deliberative process privilege, rejecting plaintiff's "meritless argument" that the memo represented the agency's final policy; (3) properly withheld a preliminary assessment of the program under the attorney work-product privilege; (4) failed to submit sufficient evidence to establish that Exemption 7(D) protects that identities of private companies that assist in the operation of the program; and (5) failed to show that Exemption (7)(E) protects (a) the names of private companies that assist with the program's operation, (b) documents that reveal how the DEA secures cooperation of entities instrumental to program's operation, or (c) the names of other law enforcement agencies with access to the program data.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
Platsky v. Food & Drug Admin. (2nd Cir.) (summary order) -- affirming district court's ruling that the FDA conducted an adequate search for requested records.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
Soto v. U.S. Dep't of State (D.D.C.) -- holding that 8 U.S.C. § 1202(f), which permits the Department to withhold documents "pertaining to the issuance or refusal of visas," extends to records concerning the revocation of visas; therefore, the Department properly invoked Exemption 3 to withhold records pertaining to the revocation of a student visa.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
Palmieri v. United States (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) the Office of Naval Intelligence failed to conduct an adequate search for records concerning plaintiff, a former contractor for the United States whose security clearance was revoked; (2) the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) did not sufficiently establish that it properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 3 and the Bank Secrecy Act; (3) the Department of State, Defense Security Service, and OPM conducted adequate searches; (4) the Naval Criminal Investigative Service properly withheld records pursuant to Privacy Act exemption (j)(2) and plaintiff failed to expressly challenge agency's FOIA exemptions.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
Tracy v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- ruling that it was reasonable for the FBI to search for records concerning plaintiff by using his name as a search term and forgoing his date of birth, social security number, and the names of companies suggested by plaintiff. The court further ruled that the FBI properly withheld the names of third parties under Exemption 6 and 7(C), and that it properly withheld the address of an internal web site under Exemption 7(E).
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
Gahagan v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (E.D. La.) -- ruling that plaintiff was not entitled to attorneys' fees or costs largely because his request sought a "single record for use in his client's removal proceedings. He had no larger purpose aimed at benefitting the public. . . ."
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.