ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT et al v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY and 17 other new FOIA lawsuits

We have added 159 documents from 17 FOIA cases filed between August 19, 2018 and August 25, 2018. 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.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT et al v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (filed Aug 21, 2018)
   The Environmental Integrity Project and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network submitted FOIA requests to the EPA for records concerning expenditures for former Administrator Scott Pruitt for travel outside Washington, D.C. for August 2017 through March 2018. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests and provided a link to 612 pages of records previously disclosed to the Washington Post. However, only 68 pages were responsive to the request by EIP and CCAN. EIP and CCAN also requested travel records for former Obama administrators Lisa Jackson and Gina McCarthy, as well as another FOIA request pertaining to Pruitt’s travel expenses. After the agency failed to provide further records, EIP and CCAN filed suit, alleging that EPA had set up a “political awareness review” that constituted an illegal practice or policy in violation of FOIA.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
2. SOWERS v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE et al (filed Aug 21, 2018)
   Randy Sowers, a dairy farm operator, submitted FOIA requests to the Department of Justice and the IRS for records concerning his petition for remission or mitigation of funds seized several years earlier by the IRS. Sowers also requested a fee waiver. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests. The IRS disclosed 341 pages, but withheld 81 pages in part and 48 pages in full. Sowers filed an administrative appeal, which was denied. After hearing nothing further DOJ, Sowers filed suit against both agencies.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver
3. McKeever v. U.S. Department of Justice et al (filed Aug 20, 2018)
   Timothy McKeever, an attorney, submitted a FOIA request to the EPA for records produced to the EPA and the Department of Justice by Pebble Limited Partnership. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and asked McKeever to narrow the scope of his request. He did so. The agency located 6,500 potentially responsive pages. It withheld 2,000 records under Exemption 4 (confidential business information) and released the rest. DOJ denied access to 4,271 records referred by the EPA under Exemption 4 (confidential business information) and Exemption 6 (invasion of privacy). McKeever filed an administrative appeal of the DOJ denial to the Office of Information Policy, which remanded the request back to the Civil Division for further processing. This time, the Civil Division withheld 3,600 records. McKeever filed another administrative appeal and OIP found that the records referred by EPA were not responsive to McKeever’s request. McKeever filed another administrative appeal, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, McKeever filed suit.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
4. PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION et al (filed Aug 20, 2018)
   People for the American Way submitted FOIA requests to the Department of Education, the EPA, and the Department of Agriculture for records concerning communications between agency officials and Ralph Drollinger and Capitol Ministries pertaining to a Bible study conducted by Capitol Ministries. PFAW also requested a fee waiver. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests, but after hearing nothing further from the agencies, PFAW filed suit.
   Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
5. JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Aug 20, 2018)
   Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice for emails from paralegal Allison Hrabar containing the keywords “Trump,” “Trumptard,” or “socialist.” The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and referred it to the Antitrust Division. 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
6. Goldschmidt v. United States Department of Education (filed Aug 20, 2018)
   Jona Goldschmidt, a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Loyola University Chicago, submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Education for an Excel spreadsheet of 4-year colleges subject to the Clery Act and the email addresses of the schools’ Clery Act reporting officers. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request. The agency told Goldschmidt that it had no responsive records because such records were not collected by the agency. Further, it claimed that making such a spreadsheet would require the agency to create a record. Goldschmidt filed an administrative appeal of the decision. The agency told him that the information was available on its website. After Goldschmidt was unable to locate such a list on the agency’s website, he filed suit.
   Issues: Adequacy – Search, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
7. JACKSON & MACNICHOL et al v. WILKIE (filed Aug 20, 2018)
   The law firm of Jackson & MacNichol submitted FOIA requests to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the claims files of four of their clients. After hearing nothing further from the agency, the law firm filed suit.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Jurisdiction – Injunction
8. Larsen v. Transportation Security Administration (filed Aug 21, 2018)
   Jared Larsen submitted a FOIA request to the Transportation Security Administration for records concerning an incident that occurred June 3, 2018 at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport and TSA’s policies and procedures. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request. Larsen contacted the agency several times to check on the status of his request. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Larsen filed suit.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Recovery of Costs
9. LEOPOLD et al v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (filed Aug 21, 2018)
   Buzzfeed Reporter Jason Leopold submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Homeland Security for records concerning emails sent to or from, and briefing books and other materials provided to, Secretary Kristjen Nielsen since June 2017. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and invoked a 10-day extension. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Leopold filed suit.
   Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
10. CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING v. U.S. IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT et al (filed Aug 22, 2018)
    The Center for Investigative Reporting sent a FOIA request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for records concerning its CARIER program. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and told CIR that it found no responsive records. CIR filed an administrative appeal of that finding. After hearing nothing further from the agency, CIR filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
11. MUSLIM ADVOCATES v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE et al (filed Aug 23, 2018)
    Muslim Advocates submitted FOIA requests to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security for records concerning denaturalization cases. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests. The Civil Division at DOJ denied all records under Exemption 7(A) (interference with ongoing investigation or proceeding) and Exemption 7(E) (investigative methods and techniques). Muslim advocates filed an administrative appeal of the denial to the Office of Information Policy. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Muslim Advocates that its request was too broad. Muslim Advocates filed an administrative appeal of that decision. After hearing nothing further from either agency, Muslim Advocates filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index
12. DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION v. CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (filed Aug 23, 2018)
    Democracy Forward Foundation submitted a FOIA request to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for records concerning communications between the agency and the Consumer Financial Services Federation of America, the Consumer Service Alliance of Texas, and their representatives. DFF also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and told DFF that it would hold its fee waiver request in abeyance. After hearing nothing further from the agency, DFF filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index, Public Interest Fee Waiver
13. PROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES (filed Aug 23, 2018)
    The Protect Democracy Project submitted a FOIA request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for records concerning communications between White House staff and the agency mentioning Michael Cohen, Essential Consultants, or Novartis. PDP also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and granted PDP’s request for a fee waiver. After hearing nothing further from the agency, PDP filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index
14. STOTTER & ASSOCIATES LLC v. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (filed Aug 23, 2018)
    The law firm of Stotter & Associates submitted eight FOIA requests to the FDA for records concerning new drug applications for Albendazole. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests. In response to each request, the agency told Stotter & Associates that it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of records concerning any NDAs for Albendazole. Stotter & Associates filed administrative appeals of those decisions, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Stotter & Associates filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
15. Animal Welfare Institute et al v. United States Department of Agriculture et al (filed Aug 23, 2018)
    The Animal Welfare Institute and Farm Sanctuary submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service for Noncompliance Records and Memoranda of Interview prepared pursuant to the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act and to require the FSIS to proactively post such records. The agency disclosed the records with redactions but did not address AWI and FS’s request to proactively post the records. AWI and FS filed an administrative appeal asking the agency to post the records. The agency acknowledged receiving the appeal and indicated it was considering the request to proactively post the records. However, after hearing nothing further from the agency, AWI and FS filed suit.
    Issues: Affirmative disclosure, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
16. JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Aug 24, 2018)
    Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the FBI for its Hillary Clinton investigative file. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and told Judicial Watch that some records responsive to its request were available online in the FBI’s FOIA Library. 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
17. GERTNER v. CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES (filed Aug 24, 2018)
    Alex Gertner submitted a FOIA request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the agency’s Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data. The agency acknowledged his request and initially told Gertner that the data was only available from the states. Gertner told the agency that its website expressly indicated that the agency had the data he requested. The agency ultimately denied the data on the basis of Exemption 6 (invasion of privacy). Gertner filed an administrative appeal of the decision, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Gertner filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

In addition, we have added 3 documents from 1 case, with an earlier filing date, that has recently appeared on PACER.

• JURDI v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (filed Aug 13, 2018)