FOIA Activity: 10 New Procedural or Substantive Decisions

We have added 10 decisions of a procedural or substantive nature filed between April 18, 2021 and April 24, 2021. These are associated with 10 FOIA cases pending in federal district court. Note that because there can be delays between the date a decision is made and when it shows up on PACER, this listing includes only decisions that appeared on PACER during this period.

Click on the date to view the full text of the decision. Click on a case title below to view other details for that case, including links to the docket report and complaint.

1. CAN 4:2020cv07126 — American Small Business League v. United States Office of Management and Budget et al

   • April 21, 2021: Order by Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu granting [21] Defendant's Motion to Sever. Plaintiff's claims against Small Business Administration are severed and shall proceed in a separate case. Case Management Statement due by 7/14/2021. Initial Case Management Conference set for 7/21/2021 at 1:30 PM. Signed on 4/21/2021. Signed on 4/21/2021.(dmrlc1S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 4/21/2021)
2. DC 1:2016cv01355 — AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE

   • April 23, 2021: MEMORANDUM OPINION in support of [54] Order granting in part and denying in part Defendant's [37] Motion for Summary Judgment and Plaintiff's [42] Motion for Summary Judgment. Signed by Judge Timothy J. Kelly on 4/23/2021. (lctjk1)
3. DC 1:2018cv01249 — WOODWARD v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE et al

   • April 20, 2021: MEMORANDUM OPINION denying [27] Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment and denying [32] Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment. See document for details. Signed by Judge Rudolph Contreras on 4/20/2021. (lcrc3)
4. DC 1:2020cv00997 — CAUSE OF ACTION INSTITUTE v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

   • April 20, 2021: MEMORANDUM OPINION regarding the defendant's [16] Motion for Summary Judgment and the plaintiff's [17] Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. Signed by Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell on April 20, 2021. (lcbah3)
5. ID 1:2020cv00368 — Derden et al v. US Department of Homeland Security et al

   • April 23, 2021: MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER. Plaintiffs Motion for Extension of Time to File a Response/Reply is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiffs shall havethree weeks from the entry of this order to file their response. Plaintiffs will not be permitted more time to conduct discovery. Signed by Judge B. Lynn Winmill. (caused to be mailed to non Registered Participants at the addresses listed on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) by (alw)
6. NYS 1:2017cv09972 — American Civil Liberties Union et al v. Department of Defense et al

   • April 22, 2021: REVISED SCHEDULING ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the briefing schedule set forth in the Court's February 19, 2021 Order is adjourned. The government will produce a redacted version of the document sought in the plaintiffs' FOIA request s by April 30, 2021. The parties will meet and confer and submit a status report by May 28, 2021. To the extent any issues remain to be litigated, the status report will include a proposed briefing schedule. (As further set forth in this Order.) (Signed by Judge Edgardo Ramos on 4/22/2021) (cf) Modified on 4/22/2021 (cf).
7. NYS 1:2018cv00650 — Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. U.S. Department of the Interior et al

   • April 22, 2021: ORDER: The parties appeared for a status conference on April 22, 2021. As directed at the conference, the parties shall file quarterly joint status letters. The letters shall be due within seven days after the end of each quarter, and the parties may file the letters earlier than the end of the quarter without impacting the due date of subsequent letters. (Signed by Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang on 4/22/2021) (nb)
8. NYS 1:2020cv10660 — Immigrant Defense Project v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement

   • April 21, 2021: ORDER: Following a telephone conference with the parties on April 20, 2021, the Court hereby ORDERS, as follows: Defendant immediately shall begin processing documents at a rate of 600 pages per month. The Court anticipates that this rate will be adjusted once the Court has received more information from Defendant pursuant to the below. No later than Monday, April 26, 2021, Defendant shall file a status update with the Court that sets forth (a) a total page count of th e "certain records" Defendant has identified "that have already been collected that are unlikely to be duplicated during the ongoing searches" (the "Unlikely Duplicates"); and (b) any conclusions Defendant ha s reached with regard to "whether reasonable email searches are feasible"in response to Complaint Ex. A Request Nos. 1(p) and 1(q) and Complaint Ex. B Request Nos. 6 and 12 (the "Requests Under Evaluation). (Joint Ltr., ECF No. 33, at 1.) No later than Monday, May 3, 2021, Defendant shall: (a) make a first monthly production, based on processing at least 600 pages of Unlikely Duplicates (or, If the Unlikely Duplicates comprise fewer than 600 pages, all the Unlikely Duplicates); and(b) file with the Court a first monthly status update, setting forth: (i) a count of document pages processed (A) since April 16, 20211 and (B) in total; (ii) a count of document pages produced (A) sinc e April 16, 2021 and (B) in total; (iii) a count of Unlikely Duplicate pages that remain un-processed, if any; (iv) a page count of any newly identified "records unlikely to be duplicated," to the extent Defendant has continue[d] to id entify" them (see Joint Ltr. at 1); and (v) any further conclusions Defendant has reached with regard to the Requests Under Evaluation. No later than Friday, May 14, 2021, Defendant shall (a) complete all outstanding searches; (b) complete deduplication of the documents returned by those searches; and (c) file a status update with the Court that sets forth a total page count of those deduplicated documents. No later than Tuesday, June 1, 2021, Defendant shall (a) ma ke a second monthly production, based on processing at least 600 pages since its prior production, and (b) file with the Court a second monthly status update, setting forth: (i) a count of document pages processed (A) since its prior production and (B) in total; and (ii) a count of document pages produced (A) since its prior production and (B) in total. Plaintiffs are encouraged to identify to Defendant any higher- or lower-priority categories of requested documents. If they do so, Defendant shall use its best efforts to prioritize its processing and production efforts accordingly. So Ordered. (Signed by Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron on 4/21/2021) (js)
9. OHS 3:2020cv00194 — Jarrell v. Dept. of the Army

   • April 19, 2021: DECISION AND ENTRY ADOPTING UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS (DOC. # [12] );OVERRULING PLAINTIFF'S OBJECTION (DOC. # [13] ); SUSTAINING MOTION TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 12 ( b)(6) (DOC. # [6] ); JUDGMENT TO ENTER IN FAVOR OF DEFENDANT AND AGAINST PLAINTIFF; PLAINTIFF FORMALLY ADVISED OF INHERENT COURT AUTHORITY TO DECLARE HIM A HARASSING AND VEXATIOUS LITIGATOR PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1927; ANTICIPATED MOTION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL IN FORMA PAUPERIS DENIED; TERMINATION ENTRY. Signed by Judge Walter H. Rice on 4/16/2021. (srb)(This document has been sent by regular mail to the party(ies) listed in the NEF that did not receive electronic notification.)
10. TXW 5:2019cv01196 — HJD Capital Electric, Inc. v. United States Department of the Air Force, et al

    • April 20, 2021: ***PLEASE DISREGARD THIE ENTRY -IT WAS ENTERED IN THE WRONG CASE ***ORDER– IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the parties confer on the language of a stipulation to be signed by Solis regarding the income earned by Black Bull for the relevant time period and either file the stipulation with the Court or an advisory informing the Court that they were unable to reach an agreement on or before April 27, 2021.. Signed by Judge Elizabeth S. Chestney. (mgr) Modified on 4/27/2021 (mgr).