Clay v. Dep’t of the Navy, No. 17-777, 2024 WL 1328326 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 28, 2024) (Morales Howard, J.)

Clay v. Dep’t of the Navy, No. 17-777, 2024 WL 1328326 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 28, 2024) (Morales Howard, J.)

Re:  Requests for records concerning plaintiff

Disposition:  Granting in part and denying in part defendant’s motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Mootness and Other Grounds for Dismissal:  The court holds that “[plaintiff’s] FOIA claim is moot, and as such the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the FOIA claim in the Second Amended Complaint.”  The court finds that “the ‘information withheld’ which is at issue in this action is the information redacted by the Navy in reliance on the deliberative process exemption when it released two documents (totaling four pages) to [plaintiff] in response to [one of plaintiff’s] request[s].”  “The undisputed evidence in the record demonstrates that [plaintiff] has now received the two documents from the . . . request without the deliberative-process redactions.”  “[Plaintiff] does not argue – let alone plead facts to suggest – that the Navy’s search was legally inadequate, nor does he ask the Court to determine the adequacy of any search the Navy made for responsive documents.”  “To the extent that [plaintiff] asserts in his Second Amended Complaint that the Navy has improperly withheld agency records, that claim is moot.”  “In [plaintiff’s] Response, rather than addressing whether the Navy has released the information it previously withheld under the deliberative process exemption – i.e., the relief he requested in his Second Amended Complaint – [plaintiff] focuses almost entirely on the fact that he has not received specific documents he believes to exist.”  “[Plaintiff’s] dissatisfaction with the documents available to him – standing alone – does not create a live controversy in this case.”  “The issue before the Court in resolving the Motion is not whether [plaintiff] has received sufficient information to prove his innocence.”