Court opinions issued Aug. 31, 2016

Dongkuk Int'l v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- concluding that a request for assistance made by a foreign government -- in this instance, the Republic of Korea --  under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty is exempt from disclosure under Exemption 3.

Intellectual Property Watch v. U.S. Trade Representative (S.D.N.Y.) -- denying in substantial part plaintiff's motion for reconsideration of court's decision that certain draft text, memoranda, and communications relating to the Trans Pacific Partnership ("TPP") were properly withheld under Exemption 1; denying both parties' motions for summary judgment on USTR's withholdings pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with 19 U.S.C. § 2155(g)(2),(g)(3).

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinion issued Aug. 29, 2016

Brown v. Perez (10th Cir.) -- reversing decision of U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado that granted summary judgment to U.S. Department of Labor, which had withheld the names and business addresses of treating physicians from certain worker compensation records pursuant to Exemptions 4 and 6.  With respect to Exemption 4, the Tenth Circuit held that the agency could not demonstrate the likelihood of substantial competitive harm by relying upon an unsworn letter from a third party that had objected to disclosure.  Regarding Exemption 6, the Circuit questioned the agency's unsupported claim that the treating physicians had any cognizable privacy interests in their business addresses.  Moreover, the Circuit rejected the agency's post hoc argument that disclosure would implicate the physicians' financial information.  Lastly, the Circuit held that the district court improperly permitted agency to withhold printouts of certain computer menu screens, because the agency had put forth no evidence as to whether those records were "readily reproducible."

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.    

Court opinions issued Aug. 25 & 26, 2016

Aug. 26, 2016

Gov't Accountability Project v. Food & Drug Admin. (D.D.C.) -- holding that Section 105 of the Animal Drug and User Fee Amendments of 2008 does not qualify as an Exemption 3 statute, and denying summary judgment to both parties with respect to whether disclosure of records concerning antimicrobial drugs sold and distributed in 2009 would likely cause harms protected by Exemption 4.  

Yunes v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- ruling that the State Department adequately searched the embassy of the Dominican Republic for records concerning plaintiff's visa revocation, and that all of the FBI's withholdings were proper except for its application of Exemption 3 in conjunction with the Bank Secrecy Act to withhold a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network report.

Bartko v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- finding that the Securities and Exchange Commission conducted an adequate search for records pertaining to plaintiff's criminal prosecution.  

Aug. 25, 2016

N.Y. Times Co. v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (S.D.N.Y.) -- determining that the NSA properly redacted information from two Inspector General reports pursuant to Exemption 1 and denying in camera review because the agency's declaration "articulated a reasonably detailed explanation for the redactions which was both logical and plausible."

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinion issued Aug. 24, 2016

Miles v. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- ruling that multiple components of DOJ performed adequate searches in response to pro se prisoner's request for correspondence concerning certain criminal laws. 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinion issued Aug. 22, 2016

Zaldivar v. U.S. Dep't of Veterans Affairs (D. Ariz.) -- holding that: (1) plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to his request for certain records from his claim file; (2) the agency conducted an adequate search in response to his request for records concerning his former spouse; (3) the agency properly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold certain about plaintiff's former spouse.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinions issued Aug. 18 & 19, 2016

Aug. 19, 2016

Gahagan v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (E.D. La.) -- concluding that: (1) referring record is not per se improper, but that ICE did not justify withholding four pages that USCIS referred to ICE; (2) the declaration of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol failed to account for two withheld pages; (3) CPB and USCIS demonstrated that they conducted legally adequate searches; (4) USCIS was required to disclose duplicate records subject to authorized redactions; and (5) USCIS performed a reasonable segregability analysis for two of three disputed exhibits.

Aug. 18, 2016

People for the Ethical Treatment Animals v. HHS (D.D.C) -- ruling that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold four categories of information concerning the importation of animals, but that plaintiff was entitled to the names of the species of animals imported and to all five categories of information submitted by three companies that did not object to disclosure.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinions issued Aug. 16 & 17, 2016

Aug. 17, 2016

ACLU v. FBI (D. Mass.) -- finding that: (1) the FBI conducted a reasonable search for records concerning the FBI's Boston field office and the Joint Terrorism Task Force; (2) the FBI did not justify its use of Exemption 7(E) to withhold staffing and budget information or certain case statistics; and (3) the Executive Office for United States Attorneys was required to conduct a search because it failed to prove that all records in its possession would be duplicative of FBI's records.

Aug. 16, 2016

Carter v. United States (S.D. Ohio) -- granting summary judgment to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys because the agency averred that it never received plaintiff's request and plaintiff was unable to establish otherwise.

Widi v. McNeil (D. Me.) -- in a case aptly described by the court as "tortuous," the court ruled that: (1) the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives performed an adequate search for records about plaintiff's criminal trial; (2) the government properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemption 7(E), but that it did not prove that it properly withheld certain records under Exemptions 3, 5, 7(D), or 7(F); (3) the Executive Office for United States Attorneys properly referred certain records to ATF for processing.    

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinion issued Aug. 11, 2016

Rodriguez v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- finding that the supplemental declaration filed by the Executive Office for United States Attorneys demonstrated that the agency conducted a reasonable search for certain grand jury information concerning plaintiff's criminal case in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinions issued Aug. 10. 2016

Va.-Pilot Media Cos. v. Dep't of Justice (E.D. Va.) -- awarding plaintiff $100,000 in attorneys' fees and costs, reducing the requested amount by $27,857.50 for excessive time spent on the fee petition, unreasonably hourly rates for certain support staff, and time spent on administrative proceedings.  

McAtee v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (D. Mont.) -- deciding that the Executive Office of United States Attorneys properly withheld various grand jury information pursuant to Exemption 3.

Pinson v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- concluding that the Bureau of Prisons properly relied upon Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) to withheld in full records about third-party inmates even though they had signed release authorizations; further finding that BOP failed to adequately search for public comments to certain proposed agency regulations, but that it adequately searched for records responsive to plaintiff's remaining requests.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued Aug. 8, 2016

Andrus v. U.S. Dep't of Energy (D. Idaho) -- ruling that: (1) plaintiff, the former Governor of Idaho, failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to one of his five requests concerning the disposal of nuclear waste; (2) agency failed to adequately explain its Exemption 5 withholdings and ordering it to submit documents for in camera review; (3) plaintiff properly challenged agency's decision under Administrative Procedure Act because DOE failed to follow a regulation that requires release of documents if in "public interest" notwithstanding the applicability of FOIA exemptions.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.