FOIA Activity: 7 New Procedural or Substantive Decisions

We have added 7 decisions of a procedural or substantive nature filed between July 14, 2019 and July 20, 2019. These are associated with 7 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. CAE 2:2019cv00415 — KXTV, LLC v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

   • July 18, 2019: ORDER signed by District Judge John A. Mendez on 7/18/19 GRANTING Defendant USCIS's time to produce the Vaughn index from 7/26/19 until 8/21/19. (Becknal, R)
2. DC 1:2016cv02354 — CAUSE OF ACTION INSTITUTE v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

   • July 17, 2019: MEMORANDUM OPINION denying Defendant's [11] Motion to Dismiss. Signed by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on 7/17/2019. (lckbj2)
3. DC 1:2017cv00286 — CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

   • July 15, 2019: MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER denying without prejudice Defendant's [19] Motion for Summary Judgment, and denying without prejudice Plaintiff's [21] Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. Joint briefing schedule due by July 29, 2019. See Order for details. Signed by Judge Timothy J. Kelly on 7/15/2019. (lctjk1)
4. NYE 1:2016cv05829 — Center for Popular Democracy v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

   • July 16, 2019: MEMORANDUM & ORDER, For the reasons stated above. Defendant's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, and Plaintiff's cross-motion for summary judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Defendant is directed to take the following actions consistent with this order; (1) search the documents of all members of the Board of Governors from the relevant period; (2) expandthe search terms used to search emails and other records to include obvious alternative se arch terms, including keywords and the names or e-mail addresses of all relevant individuals, or provide sufficient explanations as to why particular proposed searches would constitute an unreasonable burden; (3) search records at the Reserve Banks t hat constitute "Records of the Board" within the meaning of 12 C.F.R. § 261.2(i)(l), including those records concerning presidential appointments and assessments that might be responsive to Part II of the FOIA Request, records relating to the Board's oversight of appointments of Reserve Bank directors that might be responsive to Parts IV and V of the FOIA Request, and records of annual assessments of Reserve Bank presidents; and (4) search for the Annotated Bank Evaluation s ummaries and documents referencing them in connection with presidential appointments. Defendant must thenproduce all responsive documents not covered by a FOIA exemption. With respect to Plaintiff's contention that Defendant failed to pursue a & quot;clear and certainlead" to responsive documents provided by the Board of Governors' Frequently Asked Questions web page and a summary of the Board's February 19,2016 meeting ("see supra Part 111(A)(3)(b)), the court finds Defe ndant's search to have been adequate. Defendant's motion for summary judgment is also granted with respect to its withholding of information under exemptions 5 and 6 of FOIA. So Ordered by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis on 7/15/2019. (Lee, Tiffeny)
5. NYW 6:2018cv06626 — Animal Welfare Institute et al v. United States Department of Agriculture et al

   • July 15, 2019: ORDER denying [5] Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim and for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Defendants motion in the alternative for transfer of the case to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is also denied. Signed by Hon. Michael A. Telesca on 7/15/19. (JMC)
6. WAW 2:2019cv00012 — Munger v. Social Security Administration

   • July 15, 2019: ORDER dismissing this action without prejudice. Signed by Judge James L. Robart. (SWT)
7. WAW 2:2019cv00645 — National Parks Conservation Association v. US Department of the Navy

   • July 15, 2019: MINUTE ORDER granting parties' [8] Stipulated Motion treated as a Motion for Extension; extending deadline for counsel to confer and file a Joint Status Report to 10/2/2019. This case remains on the active docket. Authorized by Judge Thomas S. Zilly. (SWT)