Freedom of the Press Foundation v. Department of Justice and 20 other new FOIA lawsuits, plus case descriptions
We have added 149 documents from 21 FOIA cases filed between December 13, 2015 and January 2, 2016. Note that there can be delays between the date a case is filed and when it shows up on PACER. If there are filings from this period that have yet to be posted on PACER, this FOIA Project list may not be complete.
Click on a case title below to view details for that case, including links to the associated docket and complaint documents.
- Freedom of the Press Foundation v. Department of Justice (filed Dec 14, 2015)
The Freedom of the Press Foundation submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice for records from January – July 2014 concerning communications between the agency and Congress pertaining to proposed FOIA legislation. The Foundation requested expedited processing, which was granted. After DOJ failed to respond by the end of 2014, the Foundation updated its request to include the same kinds of communications up through April 2015. The agency again granted the Foundation expedited processing, but after the agency failed to provide any substantive response, the Foundation filed suit.
Issues: Expedited processing, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - LEOPOLD v. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Jan 1, 2016)
Journalist Jason Leopold submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice for emails sent by the current or former Solicitor General to any member of the Supreme Court. Leopold also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of his request and indicated that it would be transferred to the Office of the Solicitor General. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Leopold filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver - HEFFERNAN v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (filed Dec 17, 2015)
Henry Heffernan, a Roman Catholic priest who had served as a chaplain at NIH, submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Health and Human Services for records relating to the NIH Department of Spiritual Ministries. The agency disclosed 35 pages in full, but redacted large portions of the remaining 649 pages under Exemption 5 (deliberative process privilege). Heffernan appealed, but after the agency failed to respond to his appeal, he filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - JAMES v. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (filed Dec 18, 2015)
Ryan James submitted a FOIA request to the Department of State for his personnel file. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and asked James for proof of identify, which he furnished. After hearing nothing further from agency, James filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - Kilborn v. United States Department of Health & Human Services et al (filed Dec 15, 2015)
Vincent Kilburn submitted a FOIA request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for an investigation or survey completed on June 26, 2013 of the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center. Kilburn was told that there were three records responsive to his request and they would be processed by the FOIA office. After contacting the FOIA office several times over a period of months without success, Kilburn filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE v. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (filed Dec 17, 2015)
The Brennan Center for Justice submitted a FOIA request to the Department of State for records concerning the agency’s non-publication of certain international executive agreements and the transmission of such agreements to Congress under the Case-Zablocki Act. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request, but after failing to respond to the Center’s queries about the status of the request, the Center complained to the Office of Government Information Services. OGIS was able to tell the Center that the estimated date of completion was April 2016. The Center then filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - WALSTON v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (filed Dec 18, 2015)
Linda Walston discovered that her personal computer had been hacked and traced the IP address to the Department of Defense’s Network Information Center. She submitted a complaint to DOD’s Office of Inspector General and her complaint was referred to the Inspector General at the Defense Information Systems Agency. Walston submitted a FOIA request to DISA for all records related to her complaint. DISA responded to part of her request and Walston filed an appeal as to that decision. After hearing nothing further about the resolution of her appeal, Walston filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - LEOPOLD v. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (filed Dec 18, 2015)
Journalist Jason Leopold submitted five FOIA requests to the CIA for various Inspector General Reports. The agency acknowledged receipt of at least four of his requests, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Leopold filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver - Rhoades v. Van Leuven et al (filed Dec 18, 2015)
Andrew Rhoades, an employee of the Transportation Security Administration in Minnesota, submitted a FOIA request to TSA for records concerning his allegedly punitive reassignment to Tampa, Florida, which Rhoades alleged was in retaliation for his whistleblower activities. The agency responded to the request and Rhoades filed suit alleging that the search was inadequate and the agency had improperly withheld some records under Exemption 5 (deliberative process privilege).
Issues: Adequacy – Search, Exemption 5 – Privileges – Deliberative process privilege – Deliberative, Failure to respond within statutory time limit - Sierra Club, Inc. v. National Marine Fisheries Service (filed Dec 21, 2015)
The Sierra Club submitted a FOIA request to the National Marine Fisheries Service for eight categories of records concerning Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act and its interaction with the Endangered Species Act. After the Sierra Club narrowed the request at the behest of the agency, the agency provided four partial responses, totaling 800 pages plus. After it became clear that the agency would not complete the request in a timely fashion, the Sierra Club filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index - Everett et al v. Chemicals, Inc. et al (filed Dec 21, 2015)
Carolyn Everett and others brought suit against Tram Chemicals and other companies under the Resource, Conservation and Recovery Act alleging property damages as a result of the companies’ operations. The complaint does not make any claim under FOIA.
Issues: FOIA not mentioned - KUSHNICK v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (filed Dec 22, 2015)
Bruce Kushnick, executive director of New Networks Institute and a journalist specializing in communications issues, submitted a FOIA request to the Federal Communications Commission for records concerning the investigation and settlement of charges against Verizon Wireless for unauthorized third party charges to customers. The agency told Kuschnick it would give Verizon an opportunity to object to disclosure. Verizon indicated it had no objection and the agency reviewed nearly 15,000 pages, not including internal documents which the agency told Kucknick it had no obligation to process. The agency indicated that the withholdings were made under Exemption 7(A) (interference with ongoing investigation or proceeding) and Exemption 7(E) (investigative methods and techniques), but did not tie specific documents to the exemption claims. Although Kucknick does not state that he filed an administrative appeal, he argued that his administrative remedies had been exhausted. He then filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (filed Dec 22, 2015)
Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the Department of the Air Force for records concerning transportation of members of Congress. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request, but after hearing further from the agency, Judicial Watch filed suit.
Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index - Bittner et al v. Internal Revenue Service (filed Dec 22, 2015)
Alexandru and Sherry Bittner, naturalized U.S. citizens, submitted a FOIA request to the IRS for their administrative file pertaining to the agency’s audit of their back taxes. The Bittners had lived in Rumania for 22 years without filing U.S. taxes and when they returned to the U.S. they agreed to file back tax returns. The IRS assessed them $6 million in back taxes. The Bittners requested the administrative file and after the agency failed to respond, they filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - Carlson v. United States Postal Service (filed Dec 24, 2015)
Douglas Carlson submitted three FOIA requests to the U.S. Postal Service. The agency failed to respond to the first two requests and Carlson filed an administrative appeal. In response to his third request, the agency refused to grant him two hours of free search time, which he appealed. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Carlson filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit - HUNTINGTON v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (filed Dec 24, 2015)
Danny Huntington submitted two FOIA requests to the Patent and Trademark Office for records concerning its Sensitive Application Warning System program. The agency responded to the first request by indicating that it located 118 pages of records and that it was withholding portions under Exemption 5 (privileges). Huntington appealed the agency denial, which was upheld. His second request was for considerably more items. The agency responded to several items and provided records, some of which again were denied under Exemption 5. He appealed those portions of the denial, which was upheld. Huntington then filed suit.
Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - Brian Thomas Brantley v. Drug Enforcement Administration (filed Dec 28, 2015)
Brian Brantley submitted a FOIA request to the Drug Enforcement Administration for records concerning statements made by co-conspirators concerning his case. He subsequently made a second FOIA request for his own statements. The agency provided Brantley with a heavily redacted copy of the report of investigation for his case. Brantley appealed the response to the Office of Information Policy which ruled that because DEA had responded to his request Brantley could not claim that the agency had not responded. Brantley then filed suit.
Issues: Adequacy – Search, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - Gilman v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (filed Dec 29, 2015)
Denise Gilman, head of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas Law School, submitted a FOIA request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for records concerning custody determinations made regarding women detained at the T. Don Hutto immigration detention center between July 2013 and March 2014. She also requested a fee waiver. ICE denied her fee waiver request. Gilman appealed the failure of the agency to respond as well as her fee waiver request. ICE remanded her fee waiver request for further consideration. The agency finally responded to her request by providing a single Excel spreadsheet with all the data redacted. She appealed that decision and the agency agreed to conduct a further search. However, after hearing nothing further from the agency and learning that her request was listed as “closed” on the agency’s online tracking site, Gilman filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - Hoeller v. Social Security Administration (filed Dec 29, 2015)
Timothy Hoeller filed suit against the Social Security Administration to force the agency to provide him with information about spousal support payments made to his ex-wife. Because the SSA records pertain to his ex-wife, the agency denied Hoeller access to the records.
Issues: Exemption 6 – Invasion of privacy - Morgan v. Federal Bureau of Investigation (filed Dec 30, 2015)
Caroline Morgan submitted a FOIA request to the FBI for records on herself. The agency denied her request under Exemption 7(E) (investigative methods and techniques). Morgan appealed her denial, which was upheld by the Office of Information Policy. Morgan then filed suit.
Issues: Exemption 7(E) – Investigative methods or techniques, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - LEOPOLD v. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Jan 1, 2016)
Journalist Jason Leopold submitted three FOIA requests to the Department of Justice for emails sent to or from three former officials at the Office of Legal Counsel. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests and told Leopold that the numbers of potentially responsive records was quite large. He narrowed the scope of his request for David Barron, who had recently been nominated to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. As to all three requests, Leopold heard nothing further from the agency and then filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Fees, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
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