Case Detail

FOIA Project Annotation: Judge Rosemary Collyer has ruled that a request submitted to several agencies by Freedom Watch for records related to waivers granted to allow trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions is invalid because it was not sufficiently specific. Freedom Watch's request contained 63 categories of records and asked for "all" records that "refer or relate" to each category. After several agencies denied Freedom Watch's request for expedited processing and a fee waiver, as well as indicating the request was too broad, Freedom Watch filed suit. Freedom Watch claimed its request was specific enough and that agencies were complaining about a handful of categories to avoid responding. Collyer disagreed. She noted that "the requests failed to identify the documents sought with any modicum of specificity and were thus fatally overbroad and burdensome." Pointing out that one category pertained to how Iran related to American politics or elections, Collyer observed that "Freedom Watch refused to discuss narrowing its requests, leaving unanswered how broadly it thinks an objective agency professional should construe the terms 'context of American politics and elections' and 'context of American politics or elections.'" She indicated that "with all the contested requests, neither time limitation nor subject matter of such communications is suggested." Before Collyer, Freedom Watch offered to work with the agencies to narrow its request. But she noted that "its belated realization that its requests may have been too broadly framed is not relevant to the question before the Court: the sufficiency of the requests submitted to the Defendant Agencies and challenged for insufficient (or no response) in the Complaint. Freedom Watch's offer to cut the scope of its requests is insufficient to avoid dismissal; a contrary result would overlook agency administrative procedures for that very purpose and encourage litigating by crying wolf, which Freedom Watch did here." She concluded that "the FOIA requests submitted by Freedom Watch to the Defendant Agencies were infirm from the beginning. Thus Freedom Watch never submitted a valid FOIA request to any of the Defendant Agencies. The requests were not valid because they did not describe the records sought sufficiently to allow a professional employee familiar with the area in question to locate responsive records."
Issues: Request - Specificity

Date Filed	Doc #	Docket Text
2012-02-27	1	COMPLAINT against BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY ( Filing fee $ 350, receipt number 4616046289) filed by FREEDOM WATCH, INC. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet)(rdj) (Entered: 02/28/2012)
2012-02-27		SUMMONS (9) Issued as to BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney General (rdj) (Entered: 02/28/2012)
2012-04-06	2	NOTICE of Appearance by Gregory Peter Dworkowitz on behalf of All Defendants (Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 04/06/2012)
2012-04-06	3	MOTION for Extension of Time to File Answer Nunc Pro Tunc by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 04/06/2012)
2012-04-10		MINUTE ORDER granting, nunc pro tunc, 3 Motion for Extension of Time to Answer. Defendants shall respond to the Complaint no later than May 4, 2012. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 4/10/2012. (lcrmc2) (Entered: 04/10/2012)
2012-04-10		Set/Reset Deadlines/Hearings: Answer to the complaint due by 5/4/2012. (cdw) (Entered: 04/10/2012)
2012-05-04	4	MOTION to Dismiss by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (Attachments: # 1 Declaration Ex. A: Guz Decl., # 2 Declaration Ex. B: Quisumbing Decl., # 3 Declaration Ex. C: Phillips Decl., # 4 Declaration Ex. D: Gilmore Decl., # 5 Ex. E: Oguaju Slip Op., # 6 Text of Proposed Order)(Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 05/04/2012)
2012-05-24	5	MOTION for Extension of Time to Respond to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss by FREEDOM WATCH, INC. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 05/24/2012)
2012-05-29		MINUTE ORDER granting 5 Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff shall oppose the motion to dismiss by June 8, 2012. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 5/29/2012. (lcrmc2) (Entered: 05/29/2012)
2012-05-29		Set/Reset Deadlines/Hearings: Response to 4 due by 6/8/2012. (cdw) (Entered: 05/29/2012)
2012-06-07	6	Consent MOTION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply as to 4 MOTION to Dismiss by FREEDOM WATCH, INC. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 06/07/2012)
2012-06-12		MINUTE ORDER granting 6 Motion for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply. Plaintiff shall oppose Defendants' motion to dismiss by no later than June 22, 2012. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 6/12/12. (lcrmc2) (Entered: 06/12/2012)
2012-06-12		Set/Reset Deadlines/Hearings: Response to 4 due by 6/22/2012. (cdw) (Entered: 06/13/2012)
2012-06-21	7	Consent MOTION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply as to 4 MOTION to Dismiss by FREEDOM WATCH, INC. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 06/21/2012)
2012-06-25		MINUTE ORDER granting nunc pro tunc to June 22, 2012 7 Plaintiff's Motion for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply. Plaintiff shall oppose Defendants' motion to dismiss by no later than June 29, 2012. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 6/25/2012. (lcrmc1) (Entered: 06/25/2012)
2012-06-25		Set/Reset Deadlines/Hearings: Response to 4 due by 6/29/2012. (cdw) (Entered: 06/26/2012)
2012-06-29	8	Memorandum in opposition to re 4 MOTION to Dismiss filed by FREEDOM WATCH, INC.. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 06/29/2012)
2012-07-06	9	REPLY to opposition to motion re 4 MOTION to Dismiss filed by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY. (Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 07/06/2012)
2012-07-13	10	MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment Against Defendant Department of State by FREEDOM WATCH, INC. (Attachments: # 1 Memorandum in Support of Partial Motion for Summary Judgment Against Defendant Department of State, # 2 Statement of Facts Not In Dispute, # 3 Affidavit of Larry Klayman, # 4 Text of Proposed Order, # 5 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 07/13/2012)
2012-07-27	11	Memorandum in opposition to re 10 MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment Against Defendant Department of State filed by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY. (Attachments: # 1 Statement of Facts Response to Plaintiff's Statement of Facts, # 2 Text of Proposed Order)(Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 07/27/2012)
2012-07-27	12	MOTION to Stay re 10 MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment Against Defendant Department of State by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (Attachments: # 1 Memorandum in Support, # 2 Text of Proposed Order)(Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 07/27/2012)
2012-08-09	13	RESPONSE re 12 MOTION to Stay re 10 MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment Against Defendant Department of State filed by FREEDOM WATCH, INC.. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 08/09/2012)
2012-08-09	14	REPLY to opposition to motion re 10 MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment Against Defendant Department of State filed by FREEDOM WATCH, INC.. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 08/09/2012)
2012-08-20	15	REPLY to opposition to motion re 12 MOTION to Stay re 10 MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment Against Defendant Department of State filed by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY. (Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 08/20/2012)
2012-08-22	16	MOTION for Leave to File Surreply by FREEDOM WATCH, INC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Plaintiff's Surreply In Opposition of Defendants' Motion to Stay, # 2 Text of Proposed Order, # 3 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 08/22/2012)
2012-08-22	17	MOTION for Attorney Fees And Costs by FREEDOM WATCH, INC. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Declaration)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 08/22/2012)
2012-08-27	18	Memorandum in opposition to re 16 MOTION for Leave to File Surreply , 17 MOTION for Attorney Fees And Costs filed by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 08/27/2012)
2012-09-10	19	REPLY to opposition to motion re 17 MOTION for Attorney Fees And Costs filed by FREEDOM WATCH, INC.. (Attachments: # 1 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 09/10/2012)
2012-10-09	20	NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY by BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Freedom Watch v. CIA Slip Op.)(Dworkowitz, Gregory) (Entered: 10/09/2012)
2012-10-11	21	RESPONSE re 20 NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY, filed by FREEDOM WATCH, INC.. (Attachments: # 1 Certificate of Service)(Klayman, Larry) (Entered: 10/11/2012)
2012-10-26		MINUTE ORDER granting 12 Motion to Stay based on Defendants' request. This case is STAYED in its entirety pending further action of the Court. Additional pleadings filed without prior leave of Court will be stricken and counsel may be sanctioned. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 10/26/2012.(lcrmc2) (Entered: 10/26/2012)
2012-10-26		Case Stayed. (cdw) (Entered: 10/26/2012)
2012-10-26		MINUTE ORDER denying 17 Motion for Attorney Fees without prejudice. The Motion for Attorney Fees is premature. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 10/26/2012. (lcrmc2) (Entered: 10/26/2012)
2013-02-27	22	MEMORANDUM AND OPINION. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 2/27/2013. (lcrmc2) (Entered: 02/27/2013)
2013-02-27	23	ORDER granting 4 Motion to Dismiss; finding as moot 10 Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. The 1 Complaint is dismissed with prejudice. This case is closed. Signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer on 2/27/2013. (lcrmc2) (Entered: 02/27/2013)
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