Court opinions issued Mar. 31, 2017

Justice v. Mine Safety & Health Admin. (S.D. W. Va.) -- denying plaintiff's bid for attorney's fees and costs because he failed to show that disclosure resulted in public benefit or that agency withholdings were unreasonable.  

Judicial Watch v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury (D.D.C.) -- ruling that Treasury performed a reasonable search for email between three agencies and Hillary Clinton's personal email address, rejecting plaintiff's argument that Treasury should have searched all employee email accounts instead of limiting to senior employees.

Smith v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) CIA conducted adequate search for records concerning uranium shipments to Israel, and that agency justifiably declined to search its operational files; (2) agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 1, 3, 6, 7(C), and 7(E); and (3) circumstances did not allow plaintiff to amend Complaint in order to add DOJ as defendant. 

Shapiro v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- in case involving request to FBI for records concerning Nelson Mandela, determining that: (1) FBI properly relied on Exemptions 1, 3, 7(A), and 7(D) to withhold requested records, but did not justify all withholdings made pursuant to Exemptions 5, 7(C), and 7(E); and (2) FBI did not provide sufficient information to allow court to decide whether agency properly withheld certain records as nonresponsive to request.  Notably, the court stated that the FBI's general practice was consistent with D.C. Circuit precedence.  It further observed that "[i]f an agency was forced to turn over a full manual or entire report every time a single page contained a responsive term, the amount of time, labor, and cost that would be required to review this purportedly 'responsive' material for exemptions would be exponential, hindering the agency's ability to process multiple requests efficiently or allocate its resources effectively."

Hunton & Williams LLP v. EPA (D.D.C.) -- ruling that EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, and Department of the Army conducted adequate searches for records concerning an industrial site in California, but that none of them established the propriety of their withholdings pursuant to Exemptions 5 and 6.

Tushnet v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (D.D.C.) -- concluding that ICE failed to conduct adequate search for various records concerning counterfeit apparel, and that agency failed to justify the applicability of Exemption 7(E) to industry guides used by agents to detect counterfeit apparel.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 30, 2017

Mar. 30, 2017

Smith v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- rejecting agency's use of Glomar response in connection with request for line-item budget information reflecting support of Israel, because President Obama acknowledged  existence of records in 2015 public statement. 

Patino-Restrepo v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys conducted adequate search for records concerning plaintiff's prosecution and properly withheld information pursuant to Exemptions 5, 6, and 7(C); (2) Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted adequate search and properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 6, 7(C), and 7(E); (3) Federal Bureau of Prisons conducted adequate search for records concerning plaintiff's incarceration and properly withheld information pursuant to Exemptions 6, 7(C), and 7(F); (4) Department of State conducted adequate search and properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 1, 5, 6, 7(A), 7(C), 7(E), and 7(F); and (5) DOJ Criminal Division properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 5, 6, 7(C), and 7(D); (6) Drug Enforcement agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 7(A), 7(C), 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F); and (7) FBI properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 7(A).  

Harrison v. Exec. Office for U.S. Attorneys (S.D. Cal.) -- deciding that FOIA officer's telephone conversation with U.S. Attorney's office about existence of responsive records was insufficient to establish adequacy of search.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 29, 2017

Mar. 29, 2017

Pinson v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that FBI: (1) conducted adequate searches in response to five of nine contested requests; (2) properly withheld records under Exemptions 3, 7(C), and 7(D); and (3) failed to adequately explain the basis for withholding records pursuant to Exemption 7(A). 

Morley v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- ruling plaintiff was not entitled to attorney's fees concerning his request for certain Kennedy assassination records because agency's withholdings were reasonable.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 28, 2017

Smith v. Sessions (D.D.C.) -- concluding that FBI conducted reasonable search for records concerning plaintiff's criminal case, properly withheld information under Exemptions 5, 7(A), 7(C), and 7(E), and released all reasonably segregable information.

Judicial Watch v. DOD (D.D.C.) -- finding that government properly withheld five memoranda concerning raid, capture, and/or killing of Osama bin Laden pursuant to Exemption 1, Exemption 3 (National Security Act of 1947), and Exemption 5 (deliberative process, attorney-client, and presidential communications privileges). 

King v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) Office of Solicitor General performed reasonable search for records concerning plaintiff's criminal case; (2) plaintiff failed to administratively appeal FBI's determination; (3) Drug Enforcement Agency performed reasonable search and properly withheld records under Exemptions 7(C), 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F); and (4) Executive Office for United States Attorneys improperly relied on mere existence of district court sealing order to withhold plaintiff's criminal case file.

Borda v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- determining that Executive Office of United States Attorneys failed to show it performed adequate search for records concerning plaintiff's criminal case and failed to explain why non-exempt portions of plea agreements could not be released.  

Passmore v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) FBI performed adequate search for requested email between plaintiff and his murder victim; (2) plaintiff was not entitled to waiver of fees associated with request; and (3) agency properly withheld responsive information under Exemptions 7(C) and 7(E). 

Thomas v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- holding that Executive Office of United States Attorneys failed to adequately explain how the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia searched for records concerning plaintiff's criminal case. 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued March 27, 2017

Am. Civil Liberties Union v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (S.D.N.Y.) --  finding that: (1) FBI, National Security Division (NSD), and CIA failed to perform adequate searched for requested records concerning Executive Order 12,333; (2) all Exemption 5 withholdings by Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) were proper, and some but not all Exemption 5 withholdings by CIA, NSD, and Nat'l Security Agency were proper; (3) all but one document was properly withheld under Exemptions 1 and 3 by NSD, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, FBI, NSA; and (4) OLC, FBI, and NSD properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 7(D) and (7(E).

Debrew v. Atwood (D.D.C.) -- determining that Federal Bureau of Prisons performed an adequate search for records concerning the promulgation of a disciplinary regulation.  

Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project v. DHS (S.D.N.Y.) -- ruling that agency properly relied upon Exemptions 5 and 7(E) to withhold portions of "trip reports" regarding refugee applicants.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 24, 2017

Lucaj v. FBI (6th Cir.) --  reversing district court decision and remanding for further proceedings after concluding that documents exchanged between DOJ Criminal Division and foreign governments could not be protected under Exemption 5 because they do not meet the "inter-agency" or "intra-agency" threshold.

Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. Customs and Border Protection (D.D.C.) -- granting government's renewed summary judgment motion after finding that agency properly withheld disputed records were pursuant to Exemption 7(E).  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 23, 2017

Ocasio v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd. (D.D.C.) -- dismissing case after concluding that MSPB had released all records requested by plaintiff, except for ALJ hearing notes that had been routinely destroyed prior to request. 

Apotosky v. FBI (N.D. Ohio) -- finding that: (1) plaintiff abandoned his FOIA claim against Executive Office for United States Attorneys, and (2) FBI established that all requested records were produced, unidentifiable, or exempt.

Turner v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury (E.D. Cal.) -- ruling that Financial Crimes Enforcement Network conducted a reasonable search for four requested items, but that it improperly invoked Exemption 3 (Bank Secrecy Act) without actually searching for fifth item of requested records.   

Henson v. HHS & FDA (S.D. Ill.) -- determining that government performed a reasonable search for requested records and properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemptions 4, 5, and 6.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Mar. 21, 2017

Cohens v. FBI (N.D. Cal.) -- dismissing pro se prisoner's complaint (with leave to amend) because it failed to allege that plaintiff "made a request to the FBI, that a request was denied, or that records were improperly withheld."

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Mar. 15, 2017

Rozema v. HHS (2nd Cir.) -- summarily affirming district court's decision that FDA's records concerning quantity of menthol in cigarettes by brand is protected by Exemption 4.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 13, 2017

Jett v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- concluding that: (1) FBI failed to prove that it performed adequate search for records within ELSUR indices; (2) plaintiff was entitled to limited discovery as to whether a search for records in CRS also constitutes search for records in ELSUR indices; and (3) FBI properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemptions 7(C) and 7(E).

Comp. Enter. Inst. v. OSTP (D.D.C.) -- holding that agency was not required to search employee's non-official email account because employee complied with policy to forward all work-related email from such account to an official OSTP email account. 

Freedom of the Press Found. v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (N.D. Cal.) -- finding that: (1) FBI performed a reasonable search for records concerning issuance of national security letters ("NSLs") to obtain information about media; and (2) FBI properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemptions 1, 3 (National Security Act of 1947). 5, and 7(E).  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.