Court opinions issued Nov. 24, 2020

Nat. Res. Def. Council v. EPA (S.D.N.Y.) -- concluding that EPA failed to show that it properly withheld four documents pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege and that it properly disclosed all reasonably segregable, non exempt information from 74 other records.

Lawyers’ Comm. for Civil Rights v. OMB (D.D.C.) -- ordering additional round of summary judgment briefing because neither party addressed whether agency’s withholdings under Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege met foreseeable harm standard.

WP Co. v. SBA (D.D.C.) -- denying government’s request for stay of court’s disclosure order regarding “the names, addresses, and precise loan amounts” for certain loan borrowers following the pandemic outbreak.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 23, 2020

Contreras v. DOJ (D. Minn.) -- denying award of attorney’s fees after finding plaintiff failed to show that its lawsuit was “reasonably necessary” or “substantially caused” agency’s disclosure of requested records.

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

Court opinions issued Nov. 19-20, 2020

Nov. 20, 2020

W. Res. Legal Ctr. v. NOAA (D. Or.) -- concluding that: (1) plaintiff was not required to administratively appeal from any of agency’s six interim responses or from agency’s final determination issued after plaintiff filed suit; (2) agency did not perform adequate search for records underlying technical guidance pertaining to marine mammals; and (3) agency’s Vaughn Index was insufficient to justify documents withheld in full, but sufficient with respect to redacted documents.

Immerso v. DOL (E.D.N.Y.) -- determining that email provided by company’s outside to counsel to agency’s Administrative Law Judge in connection with workers compensation proceeding was protected as privileged under Exemption 4, consistent with decisions of other courts regarding same email.

Nov. 19. 2020

Nat'l Parks Conservation Ass'n v. U.S. Dep't of Navy (W.D. Wash) -- finding that: (1) agency performed adequate search for records concerning training exercises on or above Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest, and Olympic Peninsula; (2) agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 5’s attorney-client, attorney work-product, and deliberative process privileges; (3) agency’s withholdings under Exemption 3, in conjunction with 10 U.S.C. § 130e, could not be upheld absent written determination from Secretary of Defense; and (4) agency properly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold identities of records custodians and junior-ranking Navy personnel, but could withhold name of three project managers and needed to provide additional information about Navy personnel and contractors who developed certain environmental records.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 18, 2020

Junk v. Bd. of Governors of Fed. Reserve Sys. (S.D.N.Y) -- on remand from Second Circuit, ruling that agency performed adequate search for particular CUSIP number allegedly associated with Maiden Lane LLCs created during 2008 financial crisis.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 12, 2020

Am. Civil Liberties Union v. Dep’t of Def. (S.D.N.Y.) - on renewed summary judgment, and following in camera review ordered earlier this year, ruling that defendant agencies properly withheld certain military orders; there was no official acknowledgment because the records at issue were “clearly more specific than any information previously disclosed by the Government.”

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 9. 2020

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.

Court opinions issued Nov. 5, 2020

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.

Breaking: D.D.C Rules that SBA Must Disclose All PPP Recipients

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.

Court opinions issued Oct. 30, 2020

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.

Court opinion issued Oct. 28, 2020

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.