Court opinions issued Sept. 30, 2022

McMichael v. DOJ (D. Del.) -- determining that plaintiff was eligible and entitled to an award of costs and nearly all requested attorney’s fees in case involving FBI’s investigatory records concerning theft of jewels from Royal Family of Hesse by U.S. military officers during World War 2.

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- deciding that: (1) EOUSA and OIP conducted adequate searches for travel, budget, and expense records pertaining to John Durham’s investigation of the 2016 presidential campaign; and (2) DOJ properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 6, 7(A), 7(C), and 7(F).

Jarvis v. HUD (D.D.C.) -- concluding that agency performed adequate search for records concerning plaintiff’s housing complaints, rejecting plaintiff’s allegations of a conspiracy between the agency and property company to conceal records.

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

Court opinions issued Sept. 28, 2022

Kendrick v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- finding that FBI performed adequate search for records pertaining to plaintiff, properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 7(C), 7(D), and 7(E), and met the foreseeable harm requirement; noting that satisfying the terms of exemptions outside of Exemption 5 by itself “goes a long way to meeting the foreseeable harm requirement.”

Nat'l Pub. Radio v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- concluding that DHS improperly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold mostly factual information contained in investigatory reports of immigrant detention facilities, and it failed to show that any of its withholdings met the foreseeable harm requirement.

Am. Small Bus. League v. OMB (N.D. Cal.) -- ruling that OMB performed a reasonable search for records indicating the total federal acquisition budget for FY 2017, FY 2018, and FY 2019, and that plaintiff impermissibly expanded the scope of its request after commencing litigation.

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 27, 2022

Hall & Assocs. v. EPA (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) agency performed adequate search for records transmitted between headquarters and Region 7 concerning November 2013 meeting; (2) agency properly relied on Exemptions 5’s deliberative process, attorney work-product, and attorney-client privileges to withhold portion of email discussing possible enforcement action; and (3) in camera inspection was required to ascertain whether eleven documents concerning contemplated regulatory action contained purely factual material; (4) agency conducted adequate search for certain enforcement orders and properly withheld most, but not all, records pertaining to draft administrative order pursuant to multiple Exemption 5 privileges.

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 25, 2022

Argyle Sys. v. IRS (D.D.C.) -- concluding that IRS properly invoked Exemption 3 in conjunction with 26 U.S.C. § 6103(a) to categorically withhold various records, including Reporting Agent Authorization forms (i.e., Forms 8655); further concluding that statute’s foreseeable harm provision does not apply to Exemption 3 withholdings.

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

Court opinions issued Sept. 21, 2022

Freeman v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- granting FBI’s unopposed renewed summary judgment and finding that agency properly withheld internal secure fax numbers pursuant to Exemption 7(C) and intranet and internal web addresses pursuant to Exemption 7(E).

Black Hills Clean Water Alliance v. U.S. Forest Serv. (D.S.D.) -- granting plaintiff’s discovery request regarding agency’s search notwithstanding lack of unusual circumstances and D.C. Circuit precedent disfavoring routine discovery.

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 20, 2022

Bader Family Found. v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ. (D.D.C.) -- deciding that: (1) agency failed to conduct adequate search for emails concerning school disciplinary policies by neglecting to use reasonable search terms and not searching a non-government email account to which responsive emails had been sent; and (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 6 to redact cell phone number and non-government email address.

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

Court opinions issued Sept. 19, 2022

Leopold v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- holding that Exemption 8 protected in full an independent monitor’s 1,000-page compliance report concerning HSBC and that no non-exempt information could be reasonably segregated and released, including “background information or a table of contents.”

Kuzma v. DOJ (W.D.N.Y.) -- (1) adopting magistrate judge’s report and recommendation that FBI performed adequate search and properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 7(D) and 7(E); (2) rejecting magistrate’s finding that FBI improperly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) and ruling that FBI made reasonable effort to ascertain whether individuals whose names were withheld were still alive; and (3) rejecting magistrate’s conclusion that plaintiff’s entitlement to attorney’s fees was limited to the timeframe in which the Complaint was filed through FBI’s first release of records.

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 16, 2022

Ctr. for Immigration Studies v. USCIS (D.D.C.) -- holding that plaintiff’s request seeking all emails sent and received by three senior officials over a nine-month period —a total of 1.6 million pages—was unduly burdensome and need not be processed.

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 15, 2022

Franklin v. United States (5th Cir.) -- in relevant part, deciding that district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff attorneys’ fees because “the public gains no benefit” from disclosure of records concerning plaintiff’s tax penalties.

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 14, 2022

Hooker v. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs (D.D.C.) -- dismissing case brought by former Department employee and vexatious litigator after finding that Department performed reasonable search for requested document, which was ultimately produced after plaintiff filed suit.

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