Court Decisions Overview
Each year the federal courts issue hundreds of decisions in FOIA cases, addressing all aspects of the law. These decisions shape the way the law is interpreted and applied by the many attorneys and access professionals across the government who handle FOIA requests, administrative appeals, and litigation. To aid those professionals, and to facilitate greater understanding of the FOIA overall, OIP posts summaries of FOIA decisions to this website.
Although we have designed these summaries to reflect the key aspects of each decision, by their nature these are summaries only, and such things as internal citations and quotations have been omitted. Our goal is to provide readers with an overview of the cases as they are decided during the year, but for a complete understanding of any given case readers are, of course, encouraged to read it in its entirety.
Using the Court Decisions Page
This website includes decisions decided since January 2013. Summaries of decisions decided between May 2009 and December 2012 are available in the Court Decisions Archive. All decisions are presented chronologically, based on the date of issuance, with the most recent decision appearing first. Each decision is tagged topically with the relevant exemption or procedural consideration addressed.
You can view all decisions tagged with a particular topic or court by using the “Topic” drop down menu. For example, to see all cases where Exemption 5 is addressed, select “Exemption 5.”
You can search through each decision summary for keywords or phrases using the “Keyword Search” feature. For example, to see all cases with a particular term, such as “e-mail” or “affirming,” you can type in the term or phrase to retrieve all court decision summaries where it appears. You can also use this feature to locate decisions from a particular court by searching for the court acronym, such as “D.C. Cir” for all decisions from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Roman v. CIA, No. 11-CV-5944, 2013 WL 210224 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 18, 2013) (Bianco, J.)
- Jurisdiction: The court opines "that a failure to exhaust an...
Life Extension Found. v. IRS, No. 12-280, 2013 WL 171086 (D.D.C. Jan. 16, 2013) (Leon, J.)
- Exemption 3: The court finds that the IRS properly withheld documents under Exemption 3 pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6103(a). This provision states "that tax '[r]eturns and return information shall be confidential,' and 'no officer or employee of the...
Surgick v. Cirella, No. 12-3475, 2013WL 142704 (3d Cir. Jan. 14, 2013) (per curiam)
- Adequacy of Search: The court concludes that "[b]ased on the record in this case, the Service established that it complied with its duty to conduct an adequate search of its...
Morley v. CIA, No. 03-2545 (RJL), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4636 (D.D.C. Jan. 11, 2013)
- Mootness: The CIA previously withheld certain pieces of information under Exemptions 1, 2, and 3. After the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Milner v. Department of Navy, "our Circuit remanded the matter back to this Court so that the CIA could file a supplemental declaration...
Thyer v. DOJ, No. 12-0606 (RLW), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4400 (D.D.C. Jan. 11, 2013) (Wilkins J.)
- Motion to Dismiss: The court grants the defendant's motion to dismiss "on the ground that plaintiff's FOIA claim is barred under the terms of her plea agreement." Plaintiff fully understood the terms of the agreement and the rights she waived and represents that she entered the agreement...
Frankenberry v. FBI, No. 3:CV-08-1565, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3490 (M.D. Penn. Jan. 9, 2013) (Caputo, J.)
- Exemption 7(C): The court rejects the Magistrate Judge's recommendation requiring supplemental disclosure of information withheld...
Andrews v. FBI, No. CV F 11-1659 LJO DLB, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2973 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 8, 2013) (O'Neill, J.)
- Damages: "Section 552(a)(4)(B) authorizes a court 'to enjoin the agency from withholding agency records and to order the production of any agency records improperly withheld' but does...
Lewis v. FAA, No. 3:11-CV-1458-AC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2512 (D. Or. Jan. 7, 2013) (Acosta, Mag. J.)
- Exhaustion: "The court finds that [plaintiff] failed to exhaust his administrative remedies" for certain requests when his supplemental documents "do not evidence an appeal of the assessed charges."...
Hodge v. FBI, No. 11-5089, 2013 WL 45863 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 4, 2013) (Kavanaugh, J.)
- Adequacy of Search: The court rejects appellant's complaints about the adequacy of the FBI's searches. The court notes that "because the sworn declarations from the FBI indicate that it conducted...
The New York Times Co. v. DOJ, No. 11 Civ. 9336, 2013 WL 50209 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2013) (McMahon, J.)
- Adequacy of Search: After reviewing the...