Court opinion issued Jan. 13, 2023

Conn. Fair Hous. Ctr. v. HUD (D. Conn.) -- on reconsideration, ruling that: (1) plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs would be deemed timely filed due to “unique circumstances” and lack of prejudice to HUD; (2) court clearly erred in citing Second Circuit case that was abrogated by 2007 statutory amendment endorsing “catalyst theory” for recovering fees; and (3) plaintiff failed to prove that records were released more quickly because of its lawsuit; HUD diligently responded to request initially, but it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and resolving request-related legal questions.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 11, 2023

Bioscience Advisors, Inc. v. SEC (N.D. Cal.) -- in relevant part, determining that agency performed adequate search for multiple contract exhibits and that, in any event, plaintiff had not exhausted its administrative remedies for 83 requests; further finding that plaintiff’s claim concerning agency’s withholdings was not exhausted, either.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued Dec. 30, 2022

Rocky Mountain Wild, Inc. v. U.S. Forest Serv. (10th Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision and finding that: (1) plaintiff waived argument that Vaughn Index was insufficient; (2) agency performed reasonable search for voluminous records concerning proposed highway project; (3) agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 5 and demonstrated prospective harm, but declining to hold that the foreseeable harm provision imposed a “heightened burden”; and (4) district court properly ordered plaintiff to return two documents that agency accidentally disclosed to plaintiff without redaction, even though another organization subsequently posted the documents online.

Wright v. HHS (D.D.C.) -- denying government’s motion to dismiss case concerning COVID-19 vaccine safety records, because agency ignored Departmental regulation to contact requester and explain why it found one of his requests to be overbroad and not reasonably described.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued Dec. 27, 2022

Sayed v. U.S. Maritime Admin. (D. Mass.) -- concluding that agency neglected to sufficiently explain its search methodology in response to request for records pertaining to government-owned vessel docked in Alabama in 2020.

Woodward v. USMS (D.D.C.) -- on second renewed summary judgment, ruling that: (1) agency failed to show that another court’s sealing order precluded FOIA disclosure of records pertaining to use of cell phone tracking technology during criminal investigation of plaintiff; and (2) agency waived its right to make new withholding claim under Exemption 3, in conjunction with the Pen Register Act.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Dec. 20, 2022

NBC 7 San Diego v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- concluding that DHS and two components failed to provide sufficient explanations as to why they deemed requested records concerning a secret tracking database to be non-responsive, noting that agencies improperly considered “context” of requests instead of identified search terms.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued Dec. 19, 2022

Platsky v. FBI (2nd Cir.) (summary order) -- affirming district court’s ruling that FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(E) in refusing to confirm or deny records indicating whether plaintiff appeared on watchlist.

Naumes v. Dep’t of the Army (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment, ruling that Army properly withheld three sets of survey questions pursuant to Exemption 4 because questions were designed and voluntarily submitted by private scientist who held copyright.

Nat’l Pub. Radio v. U.S. Cent. Command (S.D. Cal.) -- determining that agency performed reasonable search for records concerning the First Battle of Fallujah on April 12, 2004, and denying plaintiff’s request for declaratory judgment regarding government’s untimely response.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Dec. 15, 2022

Dec. 15, 2022

Proj. on Gov’t Oversight v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury (D.D.C.) -- finding that Treasury performed reasonable search for certain emails of seven senior officials, rejecting plaintiff’s argument that Treasury was required to prove that employees followed policy of forwarding work-related emails on their personal accounts to their official Treasury accounts.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued Dec. 14, 2022

Frost v. DOJ (9th Cir.) (unpublished) -- affirming district court’s decision, noting that appellant failed to raise genuine dispute about the adequacy of government’s search for records and that court would not consider issues raised for first time on appeal.

Wine v. Dep’t of the Interior (D.D.C.) -- denying plaintiff’s motion to amend court’s judgment that plaintiff failed to appeal from agency’s partial denial of his request for records concerning himself.

Young v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI performed reasonable search for informant records pertaining to plaintiffs criminal prosecution and that it properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 7(D).

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Dec. 9, 2022

Harrington v. HHS (D.D.C.) -- denying plaintiff’s request for attorney’s fees after concluding that plaintiff was ineligible for fees. Specifically, the court found that plaintiff failed to show that “his lawsuit substantially caused HHS to release records. HHS began processing [plaintiff’s] requests before he filed his complaint, and any delays by HHS were fairly attributable to the scope of [plaintiff’s] requests and a substantial backlog of other FOIA requests.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Dec. 1, 2022

Greenspan v. Bd. of Governors of the Fed. Reserve Sys. (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) Board properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold communications received from two private firms that contained their internal economic analyses; and (2) Board properly invoked Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold other communications sent and received by Chairman Powell containing the term “bubble” or “taper tantrum.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.