Friends of the Earth v. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 22 other new FOIA lawsuits

We have added 195 documents from 22 FOIA cases filed between September 15, 2019 and September 21, 2019. 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. Friends of the Earth v. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (filed Sep 17, 2019)
   Friends of the Earth submitted a FOIA request to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for records concerning how the agency processes FOIA requests, particularly fee waivers. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request. The agency disclosed 19 records as part of an interim response. The agency later told FoE that it had found 8,700 potentially responsive emails and that it would continue processing the request. After hearing nothing further from the agency, FoE filed suit.
   Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
2. DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION v. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (filed Sep 16, 2019)
   Democracy Forward Foundation submitted a FOIA request to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for records concerning the removal of Tim Gallaudet as acting administrator that were sent to a list of named individuals. DFF also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but 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
3. Atlantic Coast Conservancy, Inc. v. United States Department of the Treasury (filed Sep 16, 2019)
   The Atlantic Coast Conservancy submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Treasury for records concerning the Land Trust Alliance. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request. ACC contacted the agency a number of times to check on the status of the request. The agency told ACC that it was processing the request. However, after hearing nothing further from the agency, ACC filed suit.
   Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
4. Tummings v. Homeland Security et al (filed Sep 16, 2019)
   Michael Tummings submitted two FOIA requests to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for records concerning his Alien file and the 1962 record of his admission to the U.S. from Jamaica. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Tummings filed suit.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
5. Sea Shepherd Legal v. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration et al (filed Sep 16, 2019)
   Sea Shepherd Legal submitted a FOIA request to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for records concerning the Maui dolphin. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and told Sea Shepherd Legal that it was processing the request. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Sea Shepherd Legal filed suit.
   Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver
6. Kertchen v. Federal Bureau of Investigation (filed Sep 16, 2019)
   Vitaliy Kertchen, an attorney specializing in the restoration of gun rights to otherwise prohibited individuals, submitted a FOIA request to the FBI for records from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System’s state prohibitor pages. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Kertchen filed suit.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
7. PROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT, INC. (filed Sep 17, 2019)
   The Protect Democracy Project and five journalists or researchers who specialized in Iran, submitted a FOIA request to the Department of State for records concerning contacts between the agency pertaining to the E-Collaborative for Civic Education, Tavaana, and the Iran Disinformation Project sent to a group of outside parties and named Twitter accounts. PDP also requested expedited processing and a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and denied PDP’s request for expedited processing. 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
8. LEGAL SERVICES OF EASTERN MISSOURI v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (filed Sep 17, 2019)
   Legal Services of Eastern Missouri submitted a FOIA request to the Department Housing and Urban Development for records concerning the agency’s involvement in public housing in Wellston. Legal Services also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and denied Legal Services’ request for a fee waiver, asking instead for a commitment to pay fees. Legal Services filed an administrative appeal of the denial of its fee waiver request. The agency denied Legal Services’ administrative appeal and requested the agency pay $2,366 as a down payment on fees. Legal Services then filed suit.
   Issues: Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver
9. American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of New Hampshire v. US Customs and Border Protection (filed Sep 17, 2019)
   The ACLU of New Hampshire submitted a FOIA request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for records concerning CBP’s non-checkpoint patrol operations in New Hampshire since January 2017. The ACLU of New Hampshire also requested expedited processing. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but after hearing nothing further from the agency, the ACLU of New Hampshire filed suit.
   Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver
10. STATE OF NEW JERSEY, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (filed Sep 17, 2019)
    The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office submitted two FOIA requests to the Department of Education for records concerning the agency’s publication of a revised system of records eliminating the routine use exception for disclosure of student information to other law enforcement agencies. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but after hearing nothing from the agency, the Attorney General submitted a FOIA request concerning the operation of the new revision. The agency again acknowledged that request. The agency told the AG that it was processing the requests. However, after hearing nothing further from the agency, the AG filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
11. WESTERN VALUES PROJECT v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR et al (filed Sep 18, 2019)
    Western Values Project submitted FOIA requests to the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, General Services Administration, and OMB for records sent to either a Senate committee or GSA concerning the relocation of BLM personnel. WVP also requested a fee waiver. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests but after hearing nothing further from any of the agencies, WVP filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver
12. EDDINGTON v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (filed Sep 18, 2019)
    Patrick Eddington, a researcher at the Cato Institute, submitted a FOIA request to the Department of State for records concerning Amir Mohamed Meshal, a U.S. citizen who had been held by both Kenya and Ethiopia. Eddington also requested expedited processing and a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and denied Eddington’s request for expedited processing. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Eddington filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
13. LEOPOLD et al v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Sep 18, 2019)
    BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold submitted two FOIA requests to the Department of Justice. The first FOIA request asked for records concerning press inquiries pertaining to text messages sent by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The second FOIA request asked for records concerning Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony. Leopold also requested a fee waiver for both requests. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests. For the first request, the agency told Leopold it would invoke a 10-day extension. In response to the second request, the agency told Leopold that it was not able to address his request at present but would start processing it as quickly as possible. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Leopold filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
14. LEOPOLD et al v. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (filed Sep 18, 2019)
    BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold submitted a FOIA request to the Defense Intelligence Agency for copies of the last 100 emails sent and received by Michael Flynn. Leopold also asked for a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Leopold filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
15. MARTINEZ v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (filed Sep 18, 2019)
    Freddy Martinez, a journalist, submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Health and Human Services for records concerning contracts awarded to General Dynamics Information Technology by the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request. Martinez’s request was ultimately transferred to the Program Support Center for processing. After hearing nothing from the agency, Martinez filed an administrative appeal. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Martinez field suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
16. Zeigler v. United States Department of Agriculture (filed Sep 18, 2019)
    Benjamin Zeigler submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Agriculture for records concerning emails sent to or received by agency employee Kyle Daniel, as well as any complaints made about Daniel. The agency acknowledged receipt and asked Ziegler to provide keyword search terms for the emails. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Ziegler filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
17. AMERICAN OVERSIGHT v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Sep 19, 2019)
    American Oversight submitted two FOIA requests to the Department of Justice for records concerning communications between DOJ officials and the White House on certain congressional oversight topics. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, American Oversight filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index
18. AMERICAN OVERSIGHT v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY et al (filed Sep 19, 2019)
    American Oversight submitted FOIA requests to the Department of Treasury, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the General Services Administration for records concerning communications between agency officials and the White House on topics of congressional oversight. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests but after hearing nothing further from the agencies, American Oversight filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index
19. Lesemann & Associates LLC v. U S Department of the Treasury (filed Sep 19, 2019)
    The law firm of Lesemann & Associates submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Treasury for records sent or received by the agency from the SC Housing Corp. of South Carolina. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and told the law firm that if it narrowed the scope of the request it would respond more quickly. The agency also told the law firm that it was processing the request. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Lesemann & Associates filed suit.
    Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees
20. DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION v. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES (filed Sep 20, 2019)
    Democracy Forward Foundation submitted a FOIA request to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for 148 pages the agency had withheld from a prior request based on its claim that they were non-responsive. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but 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
21. WITTES et al v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Sep 20, 2019)
    Benjamin Wittes and Scott Anderson of Lawfare, and the Protect Democracy Project submitted two FOIA requests to the Department of Justice for records concerning communications between agency officials and President Trump or White House officials pertaining to Andrew McCabe. Wittes’ second FOIA request asked for communications sent to or from former acting Attorney General Matthew Whittaker pertaining to McCabe. Wittes also requested expedited processing and a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests but after hearing nothing further from the agency, Wittes filed suit.
    Issues: Adequacy – Search, Expedited processing, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index, Public Interest Fee Waiver
22. JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Sep 20, 2019)
    Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice for records concerning the agency’s hiring of Nellie Ohr as an employee or contractor. 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

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

• SMITH v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION et al (filed Sep 12, 2019)