Case Detail

FOIA Project Annotation: Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has ruled that the Department of the Interior properly invoked Exemption 5 (deliberative process privilege) to protect portions of documents pertaining to correspondence with outside parties related to National Park Service management policies from January to September 2005. Approving of redactions of several lines in email messages, Kollar-Kotelly noted that "the information withheld from [these] documents appears to be deliberative in that it is part of a back-and-forth discussion of how to publicly discuss the policies under consideration by the NPS." Relying on Long v. IRS, F.2d 907 (9th Cir. 1982), the plaintiff, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, claimed that Interior had a pattern and practice of delaying responding to its requests. But Kollar-Kotelly pointed out that, although DOI took five months after acknowledging the request to respond to it, "once DOI released the bulk of the responsive information to PEER, it apologized for the delay in acknowledging PEER's FOIA request, citing 'an extremely heavy workload in the Office of the Secretary FOIA office, together with a shortage of staff.' While the Court draws no conclusions as to whether DOI handled the FOIA request as expeditiously as possible, although obviously outside the statutory time frame, the five-month delay experienced by PEER in this case bears no comparison to the almost decade-long delay experienced by the plaintiffs in Long." She added that "DOI's isolated response to the FOIA request at issue in this case [is] by itself insufficient to demonstrate a policy or practice of delayed or incomplete responses to FOIA requests. . .Moreover, while the Court does not excuse DOI's five-month delay in responding to PEER's FOIA request, a sole incident of delay is insufficient to convince this Court that there exists 'a reasonable expectation that the alleged violation will recur.'"
Issues: Exemption 5 - Privileges - Deliberative process privilege - Deliberative

Date Filed	Doc #	Docket Text
2006-02-02	1	COMPLAINT against UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR (Filing fee $ 250) filed by PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY.(td, ) (Entered: 02/06/2006)
2006-02-02		SUMMONS (3) Issued as to UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney General (td, ) (Entered: 02/06/2006)
2006-02-21	2	NOTICE of Appearance by Heather D. Graham-Oliver on behalf of UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR (Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 02/21/2006)
2006-03-15	3	First MOTION for Extension of Time to File Answer re 1 Complaint by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 03/15/2006)
2006-03-24		MINUTE ENTRY ORDER granting nunc pro tunc 3 Consent Motion for Extension of Time to Answer Complaint until and including April 13, 2006. Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on March 24, 2006. (SM) (Entered: 03/24/2006)
2006-04-11	4	Second MOTION for Extension of Time to File Answer re 1 Complaint by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 04/11/2006)
2006-04-11		MINUTE ENTRY ORDER (Paperless) granting 4 Consent Motion for Second Extension of Time to Answer, Move or Otherwise Plead to Plaintiff's Complaint. Defendant shall have until and including Thursday, June 8, 2006, to file its answer and motion for summary judgment. Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on April 11, 2006. (SM) (Entered: 04/11/2006)
2006-06-06	5	MOTION to Dismiss Or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Attachments: # 1 Affidavit Declaration of Lizzette Katilius)(Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 06/06/2006)
2006-06-06	6	MOTION (in the alternative) for Summary Judgment by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Please see Document No. 5 for scanned images). (nmw, ) (Entered: 06/07/2006)
2006-06-16	7	First MOTION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply by PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Condit, Richard) (Entered: 06/16/2006)
2006-06-19		MINUTE ENTRY ORDER (Paperless) granting 7 Plaintiff's Motion for Extension of Time to File Response to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment; Plaintiff shall have until and including June 30, 2006, to respond to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment. Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on June 19, 2006. (SM) (Entered: 06/19/2006)
2006-07-01	8	Memorandum in opposition to re 5 MOTION to Dismiss Or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment , 6 MOTION for Summary Judgment filed by PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1# 2 Exhibit 2# 3 Exhibit 3# 4 Exhibit 4# 5 Exhibit 5)(Condit, Richard) (Entered: 07/01/2006)
2006-07-03	9	Cross MOTION for Summary Judgment by PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Condit, Richard) (Entered: 07/03/2006)
2006-07-10	10	MOTION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply as to 5 MOTION to Dismiss Or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 07/10/2006)
2006-07-17	11	Second MOTION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply as to 5 MOTION to Dismiss Or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 07/17/2006)
2006-07-20	12	Third MOTION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply as to 5 MOTION to Dismiss Or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 07/20/2006)
2006-07-21	13	Memorandum in opposition to re 9 Cross MOTION for Summary Judgment and Reply filed by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Attachments: # 1 Affidavit Supplemental Declaration)(Graham-Oliver, Heather) (Entered: 07/21/2006)
2006-07-21	14	REPLY to opposition to motion re 5 6 MOTION to Dismiss, or in the alternative, MOTION for Summary Judgment filed by UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. (Please see Document No. 13 for scanned image). (nmw, ) Modified on 7/24/2006 (nmw, ). (Entered: 07/24/2006)
2006-07-24		MINUTE ENTRY ORDER (Paperless) granting nunc pro tunc 10 Consent Motion for Extension of Time to File Response to Plaintiff's Pleadings, granting nunc pro tunc 11 Consent Motion for Extension of Time to File Response to Plaintiff's Pleadings, granting nunc pro tunc 12 Defendant's Motion for Enlargement of Time to File Response to Plaintiff's Pleadings until and including July 21, 2006. Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on July 24, 2006. (SM) (Entered: 07/24/2006)
2006-07-26	15	MOTION for Extension of Time to File a Reply by PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Condit, Richard) (Entered: 07/26/2006)
2006-07-31		MINUTE ENTRY ORDER (Paperless) granting 15 Plaintiff's Motion for Extension of Time to File Reply to Defendant's Opposition to Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment; Plaintiff shall until and including August 2, 2006, to file its reply. Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on July 31, 2006. (SM) (Entered: 07/31/2006)
2006-08-03	16	REPLY to 13 Defendant's Opposition to Plaintiff's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment filed by PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. (Condit, Richard) Modified on 8/4/2006 (nmw, ). (Entered: 08/03/2006)
2006-11-28	17	ORDER granting 6 Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, denying as moot 5 Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, denying 9 Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment, and dismissing the instant case in its entirety. Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on November 28, 2006. (lcckk2) (Entered: 11/28/2006)
2006-11-28	18	MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on November 28, 2006. (lcckk2) (Entered: 11/28/2006)
Hide Docket Events