115 results for 'nos:"Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits"'.
J. Durkin partially grants motions for summary judgment from both the FBI and the plaintiff journalist who is suing it for access to records. The plaintiff accuses the FBI of illicitly monitoring Arab and Muslim communities in Chicagoland from the late 90s through early 2000s, and sued the bureau for the relevant files. The files the bureau produced were heavily censored, and now the court finds it must lift any redactions in the relevant documents concerning identified individuals' race, ethnicity and nationality. However, the court will also allow the FBI to withhold documents that the bureau deemed too sensitive to be shown publicly.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Durkin, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 1:17cv4782, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Government, Public Record, Privacy
J. Boasberg partially grants the Justice Department's motion for summary judgment in the public-policy organization's Freedom of Information Act suit seeking the release of communications regarding a dismissed FBI agent alleged to have leaked information to the media and improperly discredited information about Hunter Biden. He also partially grants the organization's cross-motion for summary judgment. While the Bureau is correct that some of the requested records are subject to FOIA exemptions for law-enforcement records and invasions of privacy interests, the balance of interests favors release of non-law-enforcement records containing the agent's last name and the term "whistleblower," or the agent's last name with the last name of his accuser, "Grassley."
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1148, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Government, Public Record
J. AliKhan grants summary judgment to the FBI in the information seekers' Freedom of Information Act suit related to the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. The FBI has adequately established that withheld records are part of an ongoing investigation of the attacks, and existing public accounts of the attacks do not undermine the agency's concerns about interference with that investigation.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: AliKhan, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:14cv1589, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Public Record, Agency
J. Moss partially grants the FDA's motion for summary judgment and the tobacco vaporizer maker's cross-motion for summary judgment in a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by the vape maker seeking information on its denied premarket tobacco applications. The FDA's withholding of records under an exemption for "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters" was proper because those documents were part of the deliberative process, regardless of the vape maker's various arguments that they were produced after the agency's decisions were made, because they were nevertheless produced before those decisions were finalized and published. Memos summarizing scientific data also are not privilege-free scientific reports in this case, since they were compiled for deliberative purposes. The agency has also established that the release of withheld memos would cause foreseeable harm and would chill the ongoing supervisory review process.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Moss, Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv2853, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Government, Public Record
J. Cobb grants the Campaign for Accountability’s cross-motion for summary judgment in its suit seeking to require the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel to make certain records available to the public under the “reading-room” provision of the Freedom of Information Act. Deliberative process privilege “does not categorically protect the OLC’s formal written opinions resolving interagency disputes.” Thus, those opinions are subject to the “affirmative disclosure requirements of FOIA’s reading-room provision.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cobb, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 1:16cv1068, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Government
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J. Moss grants the Air Force's motion for summary judgment as to the former employee's Freedom of information Act claim, but declines to dismiss his Privacy Act claim. The documents the employee seeks, related to a medical-malpractice investigation and finding, were produced or compiled for a medical quality assurance program, and are protected from disclosure under a FOIA exemption for such documents. The motion to dismiss the Privacy Act claim on its merits is premature, as the employee has not alleged or shown that he has exhausted his administrative remedies for the claim. He is ordered to show cause as to why the court has subject matter jurisdiction over this claim, so that jurisdictional questions can be litigated.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Moss, Filed On: March 31, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv473, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Privacy, Jurisdiction, Military
J. Friedrich grants the Department of Justice's motion for summary judgment and partially grants the nonprofit's motion for summary judgment in the nonprofit's Freedom of Information Act action seeking records on the procurement of lethal-injection drugs. The names of contractors providing the drugs are confidential commercial information, as are key contract terms, and the department has shown that foreseeable harm would result from their disclosure. The department has, however, waived an exemption for some materials by publicly sharing it elsewhere. The department is ordered to produce sixteen challenged records and five publicly disclosed records for in camera review.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Friedrich, Filed On: March 31, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv3626, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Government, Public Record
J. Jackson grants the Department of Energy's motion for summary judgment in the nonprofit's Freedom of Information Act suit seeking information on an ethics matter involving a former deputy assistant secretary. Documents withheld in the Department's original response to the nonprofit's FOIA request fell under an exemption for attorney work product, attorney-client privilege and deliberate process privilege. The privacy interest involved in the redaction of two documents related to a conflict of interest outweighs any public interest in those documents.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: March 30, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv2486, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Government, Privacy, Privilege
J. Boasberg rules in favor of the Department of Defense on the Fifth Amendment claim brought by a Palestinian man working in military intelligence. He lost on his claim before, and proposes amending it, but the DoD is right to say the amendments are futile.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1471, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Arbitration, Civil Rights, Ada / Rehabilitation Act
J. Boasberg denies, in part, the Department of Health and Human Services' motion for summary judgment on a nonprofit's Freedom of Information Act case seeking records related to homeopathic medicine. The department fails to prove that certain redacted, commercial information is privileged and confidential, nor has it shown it conducted an adequate search for certain materials.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv3118, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record
J. Cooper denies, in part, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's motion for summary judgment on a nonprofit's Freedom of Information Act case seeking text messages from three agency workers. Although the agency properly applied deliberative process privilege to certain messages, it failed to show foreseeable harm in their disclosure; thus, the agency will be given a second chance to justify the withholdings.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cooper, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv3414, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Energy, Public Record
J. Contreras denies, in part, the CIA's motion for summary judgment on a news publication's Freedom of Information Act case seeking records related to U.S. foreign relations and operations between the 1940s and 1970s. The CIA fails to sufficiently support certain withholdings under the National Security Act, and must submit an ex parte in camera declaration related to those withheld documents.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Contreras, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1138, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Communications, Government, Public Record
J. Johnson grants the Department of Energy's motion for summary judgment, ruling testimony from its employees regarding search efforts based on the nonprofit's Freedom of Information Act request, including the search terms used and the documents eventually produced by the search, is sufficient to satisfy the standards required for a document search under the Act.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv343, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Government, Public Record
J. Contreras denies, in part, the Department of Veterans Affairs' motion for summary judgment on an association's Freedom of Information Act case seeking records related to the policies of the department's police force at VA facilities. Certain withheld information is segregable and must be disclosed.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Contreras, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1298, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record, Veterans, Military
J. Boardman grants, in part, summary judgment in favor of the Food and Drug Administration, its commissioner and a technology company in this Freedom of Information Act claim brought by two other firms. The firms alleged the FDA is improperly withholding the tech company’s emergency use request. The court finds the disclosure is protected by exemption four and precluded by the Trade Secret Act. Summary judgment is granted to the government on all but three copies of the communication between the FDA and the tech company. The two firms’ request to open discovery is denied.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Boardman, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 8:23cv489, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record, Discovery
J. Lamberth grants $17,000 in attorney fees and costs to a group following its Freedom of Information Act case against the IRS seeking records related to alleged meetings between the agency's commissioner and FTX, "a famously scandal-ridden and now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange." The IRS repeatedly refused to process the request and, although it failed to find responsive records, the group is considered the prevailing party following the FOIA litigation.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Lamberth, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv340, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record, Tax, Attorney Fees