Swick v. Dep’t of the Army (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment, ruling that Army performed adequate search for plaintiff’s psychiatric evaluation but not for her personnel file, which Army averred was maintained by the National Personnel Records Center.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Smart-Tek Servs. v. IRS (9th Cir.) (unpublished) -- affirming district court’s decision that IRS performed adequate search for plaintiffs’ employment, corporate, and partnership tax returns, and holding that records of alter ego companies—which were commingled with plaintiffs’ records during FOIA processing and withheld by IRS under Exemption 3—were not responsive to plaintiffs’ requests.
WP Co. v. SBA (D.D.C.) -- determining that SBA failed to demonstrate that Exemptions 4 and 6 protected the names of loan recipients and amounts borrowed from the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Disaster Loans program. In reaching its decision, the court noted that the SBA had notified loan applicants that such information would be disclosed upon request.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
WP Company LLC v. U.S. Small Business Administration (D.D.C.) — “The Court will grant the news-organization Plaintiffs’ Cross Motion for Summary Judgment and CPI’s Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and order that Defendant release the names, addresses, and precise loan amounts of all individuals and entities that obtained PPP and EIDL COVID-related loans by November 19, 2020.”
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Brennan Ctr. for Justice at NYU Sch. of Law v. Dep’t of Commerce (D.D.C.) -- granting in part plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction and ordering agency to process three items of plaintiff’s request regarding the 2020 U.S. census and to produce Vaughn indices by January 11, 2020.
Prot. Democracy Proj. v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting in part plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction and ordering DOJ to confer with plaintiff on schedule to produce agency communications with the United States Postal Inspection Service regarding USPIS’s participation in any voting fraud task force.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Schneider v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- on third round of summary judgment, deciding that CIA properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege and Exemption 7(e) to withhold one document pertaining to plaintiff’s employment application.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Connell v. U.S. Southern Command (D.D.C. 2020) -- determining that: (1) agency properly relied on Exemption 3 in conjunction with 10 U.S.C. § 130b, to withhold names of individuals assigned to military unit in Guantanamo Bay; (2) agency properly invoked Exemption 6 to withhold personally identifying information of military personnel below the rank of Major, Lieutenant Colonel, or Colonel, but that neither party was entitled to summary judgment on any records withheld about military personnel at those ranks or their GS equivalents.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Am. Small Bus. League v. SBA (N.D. Cal.) -- deferring ruling on plaintiff’s summary judgment motion regarding Paycheck Protection Program loan information until District of Columbia decides two cases seeking same information.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Spadaro v. U.S. Customs & Border Prot. (2nd Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that the Department of State properly relied on Exemption 3, in conjunction with section 222(f) of Immigration and Nationality Act, to withhold records about government’s revocation of plaintiff’s visa. In a separate summary order, the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision that the FBI properly withheld records pertaining to plaintiff pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process and attorney work-product privileges.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Petrucelli v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- determining on renewed summary judgment that Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys performed adequate search for certain records pertaining to plaintiff’s criminal case.
Whittaker v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- concluding on renewed summary judgment that FBI properly withheld results of plaintiff’s “National Agency Check” pursuant to Exemption 7(E),
Block v. FTC (D. Mass.) -- ruling that: (1) agency failed to provide sufficient information to permit court to determine whether records pertaining to agency’s 2019 settlement with Facebook were properly withheld pursuant to Exemption 4; (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold identifying information of Facebook employees and of individuals “of investigative interest,” except for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose investigation was officially acknowledged by two FTC Commissioners.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Freedom of Press Found. v. DOJ (S.D.N.Y.) -- finding that: (1) FBI performed adequate search for records relating to surveillance of news media and that it properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 1, 3, and 7(E); and (2) DOJ’s Criminal Division improperly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold training slide and official instruction form.
Long v. ICE (N.D.N.Y.) -- ruling that ICE failed to establish that it performed adequate search for certain records pertaining to agency’s use of detainers and notices of release, and that it failed to establish that search for requested information would require creating new records or would be unduly burdensome.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.