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Case TitleCALLIMACHI v. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
DistrictDistrict of Columbia
CityWashington, DC
Case Number1:2020cv02199
Date Filed2020-08-11
Date ClosedOpen
JudgeJudge James E. Boasberg
PlaintiffRUKMINI CALLIMACHI
Case DescriptionJournalist Rukmini Callimachi submitted three FOIA requests to the National Archives and Records Administration. Her first FOIA request was for records concerning the 1989 Romanian revolution. Her second FOIA request was for records concerning the 1989 Malta summit between President George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. NARA told Callimachi that it had located thousands of potentially responsive records, many of which were classified. NARA suggested that she proceed with a mandatory declassification review. She declined to pursue that alternative. NARA then told her that since the responsive records were in the George Bush presidential library, they could not be processed remotely. Callimachi's third FOIA was for records concerning the 1989 execution of Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu. NARA told her that there were 60 publicly available responsive pages and an additional 18 pages that needed to be processed. After hearing nothing further from the NARA, Callimachi filed suit.
Complaint issues: Adequacy - Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation - Attorney's fees

DefendantNATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
Documents
Docket
Complaint
Complaint attachment 1
Complaint attachment 2
Complaint attachment 3
Complaint attachment 4
Complaint attachment 5
User-contributed Documents
 
Docket Events (Hide)
Date FiledDoc #Docket Text
2020-08-111COMPLAINT against NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION ( Filing fee $ 400 receipt number ADCDC-7449941) filed by RUKMINI CALLIMACHI. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A-E, # 2 Exhibit F-J, # 3 Exhibit K-O, # 4 Civil Cover Sheet, # 5 Summons)(Topic, Matthew) (Entered: 08/11/2020)
2020-08-112NOTICE of Appearance by Matthew Topic on behalf of RUKMINI CALLIMACHI (Topic, Matthew) (Entered: 08/11/2020)
2020-08-12Case Assigned to Judge James E. Boasberg. (zsb) (Entered: 08/12/2020)
2020-08-123SUMMONS (3) Issued Electronically as to NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney General (Attachment: # 1 Notice and Consent)(zsb) (Entered: 08/12/2020)
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by FOIA Project Staff
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