Case Detail

FOIA Project Annotation: A federal court in Illinois has ruled that the Bureau of Public Debt properly denied a request from Kensington Research and Recovery for a list of U.S. savings bonds that matured in 2007 but which had not been claimed because the records did not exist in the format requested and because the records contained personal information protected by Exemption 6 (invasion of privacy). The Bureau explained that the records were kept on microfilm and could be retrieved only with information supplied by the bondholder, such as social security number, address, or bond serial number. To create the list requested by Kensington would take considerable programming that might cost millions of dollars. The court noted that under the Supreme Court's definition of agency records in Kissinger and Tax Analysts, the agency did not maintain the requested records. "In the normal course of carrying out its duties," the court observed, "the BPD did not organize in a cumulative fashion the information in Kensington's request. In a situation like this, Kissinger and Tax Analysts protect the BPD from having to create entirely new documents for the purpose of satisfying a FOIA request." Addressing the Exemption 6 claim as well, the court pointed out that "because the FOIA request encompasses information leading to the identification of individual bondholders, it constitutes a 'similar file' under Exemption 6." The court indicated that "the disclosure of specific information on the registration records, such as the name, address, or bond serial number would publicize the financial affairs of the individual bondholders. Even more generally, revealing ownership records of individual bondholders entails an invasion of privacy. Disclosure would also expose the bondholders to unsolicited attempts by Kensington and other companies to collect the unredeemed bonds."
Issues: Exemption 6 - Invasion of privacy

Date Filed	Doc #	Docket Text
2010-06-09	1	COMPLAINT filed by Kensington Research & Recovery, Inc.; Filing fee $ 350, receipt number 0752-4894316.(Natarajan, Sreeram) (Entered: 06/09/2010)
2010-06-09	2	CIVIL Cover Sheet (Natarajan, Sreeram) (Entered: 06/09/2010)
2010-06-09	3	ATTORNEY Appearance for Plaintiff Kensington Research & Recovery, Inc. by Sreeram Natarajan (Natarajan, Sreeram) (Entered: 06/09/2010)
2010-06-09		CASE ASSIGNED to the Honorable Virginia M. Kendall. Designated as Magistrate Judge the Honorable Morton Denlow. (vcf, ) (Entered: 06/09/2010)
2010-06-15		SUMMONS Issued as to U.S. Attorney, and U.S. Attorney General. (kjd, ) (Entered: 06/15/2010)
2010-06-17	4	MINUTE entry before Honorable Virginia M. Kendall:Initial Status hearing set for 9/15/2010 at 09:00 AM. Joint Status Report due by 9/10/2010. (See Judge Kendall's web page found at www.ilnd.uscourts.gov for information about status reports). The parties are to report on the following: (1) Possibility of settlement in the case; (2) If no possibility of settlement exists, the nature and length of discovery necessary to get the case ready for trial. Plaintiff is to advise all other parties of the Court's action herein. Lead counsel is directed to appear at this status hearing. Mailed notice (jms, ) (Entered: 06/17/2010)
2010-06-22		SUMMONS Issued as to Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury (emd, ) (Entered: 06/22/2010)
2010-07-07	5	DESIGNATION of Abigail Lynn Peluso as U.S. Attorney for Defendants Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury (Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 07/07/2010)
2010-07-30	6	ANSWER to Complaint for Injunctive Relief by Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury(Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 07/30/2010)
2010-09-10	7	STATUS Report (JOINT) by Bureau of Public Debt, Kensington Research & Recovery, Inc., United States Department of Treasury (Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 09/10/2010)
2010-09-15	8	MINUTE entry before Honorable Virginia M. Kendall:Initial status hearing held on 9/15/2010 and continued to 9/22/2010 at 09:00 AM. Plaintiff failed to appear.Mailed notice (tsa, ) (Entered: 09/15/2010)
2010-09-20	9	MINUTE entry before Honorable Virginia M. Kendall:By agreement of the parties, status hearing reset for 9/29/2010 at 09:00 AM.Mailed notice (tsa, ) (Entered: 09/20/2010)
2010-09-29	10	MINUTE entry before Honorable Virginia M. Kendall:Initial status hearing held on 9/29/2010. Status hearing continued to 12/16/2010 at 09:00 AM. Defendant to file a motion for summary judgment with supporting memoranda by 11/17/2010. Responses by 12/15/2010. Replies by 1/5/2011. Ruling will be made by mail.Advised in open court notice (tsa, ) (Entered: 09/29/2010)
2010-11-17	11	MOTION by Defendants Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury for summary judgment (Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 11/17/2010)
2010-11-17	12	MEMORANDUM by Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury in support of motion for summary judgment 11 (Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 11/17/2010)
2010-11-17	13	RULE 56.1 Statement by Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury regarding motion for summary judgment 11 (Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 11/17/2010)
2010-11-17	14	Exhibits to Rule 56.1 Statement of Material Facts by Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A-D, # 2 Exhibit E-F)(Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 11/17/2010)
2010-12-14	15	MOTION by Plaintiff Kensington Research & Recovery, Inc. for extension of time to file response/reply (Attachments: # 1 Notice of Filing Notice of Plaintiff's Motion for Extension of Time to File Response)(Natarajan, Sreeram) (Entered: 12/14/2010)
2010-12-16	16	MINUTE entry before Honorable Virginia M. Kendall: MOTION by Plaintiff Kensington Research & Recovery, Inc. for extension of time to file response 15 to the motion for summary judgment 11 is granted. Responses due by 1/5/2011. Replies due by 1/26/2011. Ruling will be made by mail.Mailed notice (tsa, ) (Entered: 12/17/2010)
2011-01-05	17	RESPONSE by Kensington Research & Recovery, Inc.in Opposition to MOTION by Defendants Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury for summary judgment 11 (Natarajan, Sreeram) (Entered: 01/05/2011)
2011-01-05	18	MEMORANDUM by Kensington Research & Recovery, Inc. in Opposition to motion for summary judgment 11 (Natarajan, Sreeram) (Entered: 01/05/2011)
2011-01-05	19	RESPONSE to Rule 56 Statement of Material Fact and additional material facts in opposition to United States motion for summary judgment. (Natarajan, Sreeram) Modified on 1/6/2011 (kj, ). (Entered: 01/05/2011)
2011-01-05	20	INDEX of Exhibits to Additional Material Facts in opposition to Defendants motion for summary judgment. (Natarajan, Sreeram) Modified on 1/6/2011 (kj, ). (Entered: 01/05/2011)
2011-01-26	21	REPLY by Defendants Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury Memorandum in Further Support of Its Motion for Summary Judgment (Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 01/26/2011)
2011-01-26	22	RESPONSE by Defendants Bureau of Public Debt, United States Department of Treasury to Plaintiff's Rule 56.1 Statement (Peluso, Abigail) (Entered: 01/26/2011)
2011-06-28	23	MINUTE entry before Honorable Virginia M. Kendall: Status hearing set for 7/18/2011 at 09:00 AM.Mailed notice (tsa, ) (Entered: 06/28/2011)
2011-06-30	24	MINUTE entry before Honorable Virginia M. Kendall:Enter MEMORANDUM, OPINION AND ORDER: For these reasons, the Court grants the Defendants Motion for Summary Judgment. Mailed notice (tsa, ) (Entered: 06/30/2011)
2011-06-30	25	MEMORANDUM Opinion and Order Signed by the Honorable Virginia M. Kendall on 6/30/2011.(tsa, ) (Entered: 06/30/2011)
2011-06-30	26	ENTERED JUDGMENT (tsa, ) (Entered: 06/30/2011)
Hide Docket Events