Seth Rosenfeld v. United States Department of Justice et al and 14 other new FOIA lawsuits
We have added 91 documents from 15 FOIA cases filed between March 6, 2016 and March 12, 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.
- Seth Rosenfeld v. United States Department of Justice et al (filed Mar 9, 2016)
Journalist Seth Rosenfeld submitted a FOIA request to the FBI for records concerning Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton. He agreed to pay up to $200, but reserved the right to request a fee waiver at a later point. The agency contacted Rosenfeld and told him it had exhausted his two hours of free search time and had searched an additional hour at a cost of $25. The agency told Rosenfeld he would need to pay the $25 or his request would be administratively closed. Rosenfeld paid the $25, but two months later wrote to the FBI asking that his payments for search be refunded since he was a member of the news media. The agency denied Rosenfeld news media status. He appealed the decision to OIP, which upheld the FBI’s decision based on its conclusion that Rosenfeld, as a freelance journalist, had not shown that he had any commitment from a media outlet to publish and disseminate the information. The FBI also denied his request for a fee waiver, indicating that disclosure of the Newton records were not in the public interest because they would provide nothing new that was not already publicly available. OIP also affirmed that decision. The FBI then closed Rosenfeld’s request for records on Huey Newton and told Rosenfeld that it would not process any further requests from him until he paid the fees. Rosenfeld filed suit, arguing that because the agency had failed to respond within 20 days it was no longer entitled to charge fees, that Rosenfeld was a member of the news media and that he was entitled to a fee waiver for the Newton records.
Issues: Fee Category – Media or Educational, Fees – Commitment to pay, Public Interest Fee Waiver, Time Limits – Tolling of fees - Eloy Sanchez-Guerrero v. U.S. Department of Justice (filed Mar 7, 2016)
Eloy Sanchez-Guerrero submitted a FOIA request to the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys for records of plea agreements made to him during his trial in the Southern District of Texas. The agency withheld some documents and Sanchez-Guerrero appealed. His appeal was denied and he filed suit.
Issues: Exemption 7 – Law enforcement records - CITIZENS UNITED v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE (filed Mar 7, 2016)
Citizens United submitted three FOIA requests to the Department of State for emails sent or received by several members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s staff to representatives at the Clinton Foundation. Citizens United requested expedited processing for each request, which the agency granted. However, after hearing nothing further from the agency, Citizens United filed suit.
Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index - ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT LEGAL INSTITUTE et al v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (filed Mar 7, 2016)
The Energy & Environment Legal Institute submitted two FOIA requests to the Department of Energy for correspondence between certain named DOE employees and outside parties. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests, but after failing to provide any substantive response to either request, EELI filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (filed Mar 7, 2016)
Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the CIA for records concerning any pornographic materials that were gathered from Osama bin Laden’s home in Pakistan during the operation in which he was killed. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request, but after hearing nothing 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 - Crawford Vs Bill (filed Mar 7, 2016)
Kameron Crawford, a police officer with the RSIC Tribal Police Department, discovered that Chief of Police Darrell Bill was hiring officers without conducting a proper background check. Crawford filed an anonymous complaint against Bill, but was eventually terminated. He then filed suit against Bill under the Federal Tort Claim Act and requested the right to examine records about various officers that Bill allegedly hired improperly. This is not a FOIA case.
Issues: FOIA not mentioned - PUBLIC CITIZEN HEALTH RESEARCH GROUP v. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (filed Mar 8, 2016)
Public Citizen Health Research Group submitted five FOIA requests to NIH for records concerning two clinical trials supported by NIH grants testing experimental treatments in extremely premature babies. NIH acknowledged receipt of all five requests and responded to four of them, disclosing hundreds of pages in response to several of them. Since one request asked for discussions between NIH and HHS concerning the clinical trials, NIH told Public Citizen that it did not the authority to disclose records that originated with HHS and that it would refer that portion of the request to HHS for possible response. NIH had not responded to Public Citizen’s fifth request when Public Citizen filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver - Nye-Wilson et al v. United States Department of Education et al (filed Mar 8, 2016)
Carol Nye-Wilson and Randy Chapel submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Education for records concerning educational funds available for Western Seminary. The agency indicated it would begin processing the request, but the agency had failed to provide any records by the time Nye-Wilson filed suit. Nye-Wilson and Randy Chapel also submitted seven FOIA requests to the Department of State for records pertaining to various members of the Chapel family. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests, but failed to respond by the time Nye-Wilson and Chapel filed suit.
Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index - Oyler v. Customs and Border Protection et al (filed Mar 8, 2016)
Miranda Oyler, an employee of U.S. Customs and Border Protection working in the Edinburg, Texas sector, submitted a FOIA request to the agency for records concerning a whistleblower claim she had filed which resulted in a settlement by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. After the agency failed to respond, Oyler filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (filed Mar 9, 2016)
The Republican National Committee submitted two FOIA requests to the Department of State for communications between certain officials at the Department and email accounts from designated domain names affiliated with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her associates and various other Clinton associates from February 2013 to December 2015. The agency acknowledged receipt of both requests, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, the Republican National Committee filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (filed Mar 9, 2016)
The Republican National Committee submitted five FOIA requests to the Department of State for emails to or from four individuals who had been publicly linked to allegations of mishandling of classified information by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The fifth request asked for any text messages sent to Clinton that reflected the conduct of public business. The agency acknowledged receipt of all five requests, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, the Republican National Committee filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Mar 10, 2016)
Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice for records concerning Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah, a Saudi Arabian citizen who had been killed in 2014 by Pakistani military forces. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request, but after hearing nothing 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 - Staadt v. McDonald et al (filed Mar 10, 2016)
Michael Staadt submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Veterans Affairs for his claims file. After hearing nothing from the agency, Staadt filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit - RAD v. UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE (filed Mar 10, 2016)
Christopher Rad, a federal prisoner, submitted a FOIA request to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for records concerning a case involving Egold. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Rad filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees - KAYE v. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES (filed Mar 11, 2016)
Allen Kaye, an attorney, submitted a FOIA request to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for records concerning the petition filed for alien relative by Sookhia Persaud on behalf of Dhanragie Budhram. Kaye represented Persaud. After hearing nothing from the agency, Kaye filed suit.
Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit
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