Case Detail

FOIA Project Annotation: Judge Dabney Friedrich has ruled that the Department of Treasury conducted an adequate search for records in response to a FOIA request from the Project on Open Government Oversight for email records of seven Treasury officials with specified keywords pertaining to interference with the audit of President Donald Trump conducted by the IRS. The agency conducted a search through its NUIX Discover, the Department's e-discovery software, using all the proposed terms and date ranges. It did not search individual email accounts because business-related emails were required by agency regulations to be kept. The search identified 1741 potentially response documents, which a Treasury official reviewed and narrowed to three documents, which were released in full. POGO argued that the search was inadequate, particularly because so few documents were found responsive. Friedrich found the agency's manual search appropriate, noting that "manual review for responsiveness, although potentially time-consuming for the agency, was a reliable method of completing the search." She pointed out that "Treasury was not obligated to search personal email accounts" because the agency's policy was to have staff keep work-related emails. In response to POGO's suggestion that Treasury did not follow its policy, she observed that "the presumption is that official followed Treasury's email policy requiring any work-related emails to be forwarded to official email accounts. POGO has failed to rebut that presumption 'with something more than pure speculation.'" As to the dearth of responsive emails, Friedrich indicated that "in its preliminary database search, Treasury used the precise search terms that POGO requested, even though it was not necessarily obligated to do so. When those search terms produced a large volume of results, Treasury properly narrowed the production to records related to the subject matter POGO expressly described in its request."
Issues: Adequacy - Search

Date Filed	Doc #	Docket Text
2021-10-21	1	COMPLAINT against U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY ( Filing fee $ 402 receipt number ADCDC-8815494) filed by PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, INC.. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet, # 2 Summons Attorney General, # 3 Summons U.S. Dep't of Treasury, # 4 Summons U.S. Attorney for D.C.)(Weismann, Anne) (Entered: 10/21/2021)
2021-10-21	2	LCvR 26.1 CERTIFICATE OF DISCLOSURE of Corporate Affiliations and Financial Interests by PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, INC. (Weismann, Anne) (Entered: 10/21/2021)
2021-10-21		Case Assigned to Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. (adh, ) (Entered: 10/21/2021)
2021-10-21	3	SUMMONS (3) Issued Electronically as to U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney General (Attachments: # 1 Notice and Consent)(adh, ) (Entered: 10/21/2021)
2021-10-21	4	STANDARD ORDER for Civil Cases. See text for details. Signed by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on October 21, 2021. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 10/21/2021)
2021-11-02	5	Consent MOTION for Extension of Time to File Answer re 1 Complaint, by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Yurekli, Gokce) (Entered: 11/02/2021)
2021-11-04		MINUTE ORDER granting the defendant's 5 Consent Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to Complaint. The defendants shall answer, move to dismiss, or otherwise respond to the plaintiff's complaint on or before January 10, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on November 4, 2021. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 11/04/2021)
2021-11-04		Set/Reset Deadlines: Answer due by 1/10/2022, (zjch, ) (Entered: 11/05/2021)
2022-01-07	6	ANSWER to Complaint by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.(Yurekli, Gokce) (Entered: 01/07/2022)
2022-01-10		MINUTE ORDER requiring the parties to MEET AND CONFER and file a joint status report proposing a schedule for further proceedings. The status report should address the status of the plaintiff's FOIA request, including the anticipated number of documents responsive to the request and the anticipated date(s) for release of the requested documents. The parties shall file the joint status report on or before January 31, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on January 10, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 01/10/2022)
2022-01-31	7	Joint STATUS REPORT by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. (Yurekli, Gokce) (Entered: 01/31/2022)
2022-02-02		MINUTE ORDER. Upon consideration of the parties' 7 Joint Status Report, it is ORDERED that the parties shall file another joint status report on or before March 31, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on February 2, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 02/02/2022)
2022-03-31	8	Joint STATUS REPORT by PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, INC.. (Weismann, Anne) (Entered: 03/31/2022)
2022-04-04		MINUTE ORDER. Upon consideration of the parties' 8 Joint Status Report, it is ORDERED that the parties shall file another joint status report on or before April 29, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on April 4, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 04/04/2022)
2022-04-29	9	Joint STATUS REPORT by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. (Yurekli, Gokce) (Entered: 04/29/2022)
2022-04-29		MINUTE ORDER. Upon consideration of the parties' 9 Joint Status Report, it is ORDERED that the parties shall file another joint status report on or before May 31, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on April 29, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 04/29/2022)
2022-05-31	10	Joint STATUS REPORT by PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, INC.. (Weismann, Anne) (Entered: 05/31/2022)
2022-05-31		MINUTE ORDER. Upon consideration of the parties' 10 Joint Status Report, it is ORDERED that the parties shall file another joint status report on or before June 30, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on May 31, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 05/31/2022)
2022-06-30	11	Joint STATUS REPORT by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. (Yurekli, Gokce) (Entered: 06/30/2022)
2022-07-06		MINUTE ORDER. Upon review of the parties' 11 Joint Status Report, the Court adopts the following briefing schedule: the defendant shall file any motion for summary judgment or any other dispositive motions on or before August 4, 2022; the plaintiff shall file any cross-motion for summary judgment and response to the defendant's motion on or before August 25, 2022; the defendant shall file any reply in support of its motion and response to the plaintiff's cross-motion on or before September 16, 2022; and the plaintiff shall file any reply in support of its cross-motion on or before October 7, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on July 6, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 07/06/2022)
2022-08-04	12	MOTION for Summary Judgment by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. (Attachments: # 1 Memorandum in Support, # 2 Statement of Facts, # 3 Declaration Declaration of Gokce T. Yurekli, # 4 Declaration Declaration of Richard S. Dodson, # 5 Exhibit Exhibit A, # 6 Exhibit Exhibit B, # 7 Exhibit Exhibit C)(Yurekli, Gokce) (Entered: 08/04/2022)
2022-08-25	13	Memorandum in opposition to re 12 Motion for Summary Judgment, filed by PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, INC.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Statement of Facts response, # 5 Text of Proposed Order)(Weismann, Anne) (Entered: 08/25/2022)
2022-09-16	14	REPLY to opposition to motion re 12 Motion for Summary Judgment filed by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. (Yurekli, Gokce) Modified docket relationship on 9/19/2022 (zed). (Entered: 09/16/2022)
2022-10-03	15	Consent MOTION for Leave to File SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM to re 14 Reply to opposition to Motion filed by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Exhibit)(Yurekli, Gokce) Modified docket event/text on 10/5/2022 (zed). (Entered: 10/03/2022)
2022-10-04		MINUTE ORDER. Upon consideration of the defendant's 15 Consent Motion of the U.S. Department of the Treasury to Supplement Its Reply, the motion is GRANTED. It is ORDERED that the plaintiff shall file any Surreply on or before October 11, 2022. So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on October 4, 2022. (lcdlf3) (Entered: 10/04/2022)
2022-10-04		Set/Reset Deadlines: Surreply due by 10/11/2022. (zjch, ) (Entered: 10/05/2022)
2022-10-11	16	SURREPLY to re 15 MOTION for Leave to File filed by PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, INC.. (Weismann, Anne) (Entered: 10/11/2022)
2022-12-15	17	ORDER granting the defendant's 12 Motion for Summary Judgment. See text for details. Signed by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on December 15, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 12/15/2022)
2022-12-15	18	MEMORANDUM OPINION regarding the defendant's 12 Motion for Summary Judgment. See text for details. Signed by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on December 15, 2022. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 12/15/2022)
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