Q&A: video footage from nightclub

Q.  Can I obtain video from nightclub were I was assaulted by the bouncers?

A.  Generally speaking, the federal Freedom of Information Act and State open record laws apply to government entities only, not to private establishments.  You might be able to obtain any security camera footage, or at least prevent it from being discarded or erased, if you file a lawsuit against the establishment or file a complaint with local police.  In that regard, I can only recommend that you consult with an attorney licensed in your State.

FOIA News: List of administrative appeal deadlines

We hope this alphabetical listing of agency appeals deadlines will be useful for our readers.  Note that quite a few agencies require an appeal to be in its possession within the prescribed time period in order to be considered timely filed, as opposed to being postmarked or sent.   

FOIA News: FBI looking into the security of Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail setup

FBI looking into the security of Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail setup

By Carol D. Leonnig, Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger, Washington Post, August 4, 2015

The FBI has begun looking into the security of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private e-mail setup, contacting in the past week a Denver-based technology firm that helped manage the unusual system, according to two government officials.

Also last week, the FBI contacted Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, with questions about the security of a thumb drive in his possession that contains copies of work e-mails Clinton sent during her time as secretary of state.

The FBI’s interest in Clinton’s e-mail system comes after the intelligence community’s inspector general referred the issue to the Justice Department in July. Intelligence officials expressed concern that some sensitive information was not in the government’s possession and could be “compromised.” The referral did not accuse Clinton of any wrongdoing, and the two officials said Tuesday that the FBI was not targeting her.

Kendall confirmed the contact, saying: “The government is seeking assurance about the storage of those materials. We are actively cooperating.”

Read more here.

FOIA News: NSA Ordered to Look Harder for Records

NSA Ordered to Look Harder for Records

By Britain Eakin, Courthouse News Service, August 4, 2015

A federal judge dismissed most, but not all, of the National Security Agency's requests to dismiss a reporter's FOIA request on federal surveillance of judges.

Jason Leopold, formerly with Al-Jazeera America and now with Vice News, filed two FOIA requests for NSA and FBI "surveillance of federal and state judges."

The NSA and the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel responded that they had no such records.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Gawker presses on Philippe Reines emails

Gawker presses on Philippe Reines email

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, August 4, 2015

The website Gawker is asking a federal judge to order the State Department and former Hillary Clinton adviser Philippe Reines to produce sworn affidavits about his email practices and about why the agency asserted in response to a 2012 Freedom of Information Act request that it had no records of his correspondence with 34 news organizations.

"The appropriateness of the actions by Mr. Reines in particular – as well as the action or inaction by State – are legitimate subjects of concern in the context of this litigation," Gawker attorneys Brad Moss and Mark Zaid wrote in a court filing submitted Monday night. "The FOIA request serving as the basis for this litigation was filed almost three years ago....Throughout the entirety of that time, there is no indication that State had ever sought to recover any relevant e-mails from Mr. Reines, to say nothing of the fact that it is unclear on what legal basis Mr. Reines still retained exclusive control over those e-mails in the first place years after his departure from State."

Read more here.

Court opinions issued July 31, 2015

Dibacco v. U.S. Army (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming the adequacy of searched performed by Army and CIA, as well as the CIA's Exemption 1 and 3 withholdings; remanding for the district court to address in the first instance plaintiffs' challenges to redactions in records that the Army disclosed to plaintiffs while the appellate case was pending.  See article from Courthouse News Service here.

Justice v. Mine Safety & Health Admin. (S.D. W. Va.) -- holding that agency could not categorically withhold memos of investigative interviews under Exemptions 5 and 7(C), and ordering agency to re-review records for segregable, non-exempt information.    

Cole v. Fed. Bureau of Investigation (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI properly refused to confirm or deny the existence of employment and disciplinary records for an FBI agent who allegedly committed misconduct in connection with plaintiff's prosecution for transporting and distributing child pornography. 

Leopold v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (D.D.C.) -- rejecting most of plaintiff's challenges to the searches performed by NSA and DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel; ordering NSA to search its United States Signals Intelligence Directive System; ordering OLC to search for draft documents and to indicate whether its earlier searches located no records at all or located some records that were deemed non-responsive.

Tracy v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C) -- determining that FBI conducted an adequate search and properly withheld  information under Exemptions 6, 7(C), and 7(E); further finding that agency's failure to timely process the request, which was the only issue that plaintiff raised in his brief, did not preclude summary judgment in agency's favor.    

Gordon v. Courter (D.D.C.) -- finding that DOJ's Criminal Division conducted an adequate search; properly withheld records under Exemptions 5, 6, and 7(C); satisfied the segregability requirements of FOIA; and satisfied its obligations under the Privacy Act.  The court also concluded that plaintiff's amended Complaint would cause undue delay, fundamentally alter the nature of the suit, and likely be futile.

Judicial Watch v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C) -- concluding that DOJ properly invoked the attorney-work product privilege in response to request for records "detailing the number of hours DOJ Attorney Barbara Bosserman expended on the investigation of the Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles."

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Q&A: financial records concerning Camp Wonder Hands, Columbia, SC

Q.  How can I use the FOIA to receive the financial report for Camp Wonder Hands since 1998?  

A.  As you probably know, Camp Wonder Hands is sponsored by Palmetto Health Children's Hospital and funded by the hospital and through private, civic, and corporate contributions, including from the Palmetto Health Foundation. The Children's Hospital is part of Palmetto Health, a nonprofit public benefit corporation.  The North Carolina Public Records Law applies to "every public office, public officer or official, institution, board, commission, bureau, council, department, authority or other unit of government of the state or of any county, unit, special district or other political subdivision of government." G.S. 132-1. In 1981, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that the expense accounts of the president and board of directors of  the Wake County Hospital System were required to be disclosed under public records law.  News and Observer Pub. Co. v. Wake County Hospital System, 284 S.E.2d 542, 55 N.C.App. 1 (N.C. App. 1981).  Therefore. you might wish to submit a Public Records Law request to the above-referenced entities. 

Note that if you are interested in the Palmetto Health Foundation's financial statements, they can be located on its website here:  http://www.palmettohealthfoundation.org/body-NoRightMenu.cfm?id=48&oTopID=53.  On page 27 of the following document, for example, you'll see a line item for Camp Wonder Hands:  http://www.palmettohealthfoundation.org/documents/Foundation/YE%2009-30-2014%202013.pdf.

Court opinion issued July 30, 2015

Gosen v. U.S. Citizenship & Immgration Serv. (D.D.C.) -- determining that requested records pertaining to plaintiffs' asylum applications fell within the deliberative process privilege, but requiring agency to reassess records and release any segregable, non-exempt factual material. 

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: Round three of Clinton emails

State emails offer glimpse into Hillary Clinton's world

By Rachael Bade, POLITICO, July 31, 2015

Hillary Clinton was sensitive to photos of herself, enjoyed Kennedy Center perks and had to deal with more than one Democratic Senator pestering her and top staff about cushy jobs for family or acquaintances.

Those are just a few things gleaned from the State Department’s third drop of emails Friday afternoon from Clinton’s time as Secretary of State.

Story Continued Below

State has been ordered by a federal judge to release her emails on a rolling basis. Clinton used a home-brewed email system while she led the department, sidestepping government rules that require officials to use government addresses to ensure official records are kept.

No bombshells surfaced from the document dump, but they offered a glimpse into from Clinton’s State Department world.

Here are some greatest hits from Friday’s posts:

Read more here:

Q&A: may Dep't of Labor withhold names and addresses of physicians?

Q.  I just received a response from the DOL Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation in which it denied releasing the names and address of doctors performing impairment evaluations of former employees.  I understand that the names and address information of the former employees would remain private.  In this case, aren’t the doctors acting as contractors for the agency?  And it’s not their personal information but their business addresses that are at issue.

A.  I assume that DOL cited Exemption 6 of the FOIA (personal privacy) as the basis for withholding the records you requested.  Balancing the privacy interests of individuals against the public interest in disclosure can be a challenging process and reasonable individuals can disagree about the outcome even when the facts are undisputed.  Having said that, I can tell you that at least one district court has decided in favor of DOL in a case involving the identifying information of examining physicians   See Brown v. Perez (D. Colo. 2014).  I hope this is helpful.