Court Decisions

Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Rsch. v. VA, No. 22-00559, 2024 WL 3278613 (E.D. Va. July 1, 2024) (Nachmanoff, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning VA’s responses to Senator Grassley’s letters regarding allegations of unethical conduct by certain officials

Disposition:  Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Relief:  “[T]he Court finds that...

Louise Trauma Ctr. v. DHS, No. 21-2371, 2024 WL 3251225 (D.D.C. July 1, 2024) (Bates, J.)

Re:  Requests for records concerning training for asylum and FOIA officers, as well as information about a DHS asylum research office

Disposition:  Granting in part and denying in part plaintiff’s motion for attorney fees and costs; awarding plaintiff $43,895 in attorney’s fees and costs

• Attorney Fees...

Radar Online LLC v. FBI, No. 17-3956, 2024 WL 3161777 (S.D.N.Y. June 25, 2024) (Gardephe, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning FBI’s investigation and prosecution of financier Jeffrey Epstein for child sex trafficking crimes

Disposition:  Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment; denying plaintiffs’ cross-motion for summary judgment

• Exemption 7(A):  “[The] Court concludes that ‘[t...

Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. ATF, No. 23-3762, 2024 WL 3082271 (D.D.C. June 21, 2024) (Moss, J.)

Re:  Request for certain firearm trace records from ATF’s National Tracing Center’s Firearms Tracing System to identify sources of guns recovered from crimes committed in Baltimore

Disposition:  Denying third party’s renewed motion to intervene as of right; denying third party’s renewed...

Nat’l Pub. Radio v. U.S. Cent. Command, No. 23-55062, 2024 WL 3066048 (9th Cir. June 20, 2024) (per curiam)

Re:  Request for records concerning 2004 friendly-fire incident during Iraq War that resulted in death of two Marines and an Iraqi civilian interpreter, as well as numerous casualties

Disposition:  Reversing in part and affirming in part district court’s grant of government’s motion for...

Assassination Archives & Rsch. Ctr. v. DOJ, No. 23-5004, 2024 WL 3042700 (D.C. Cir. June 18, 2024) (per curiam)

Re:  Request for records concerning pre-1960 electronic surveillance activities from the FBI 

Disposition:  Affirming district court’s grant of government’s motion to dismiss

• Litigation Considerations:  The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit relates that “[o]n...

Heineman v. Hinds, No. 23-00448, 2024 WL 3047562 (D. Nev. June 17, 2024) (Dorsey, J.)

Re:  Request for grand jury documents from plaintiff’s criminal prosecution

Disposition:  Granting defendant’s motion to dismiss

• Litigation Considerations, Pleadings:  The court finds that, “[a]s the defendants correctly point out, [plaintiff] has targeted the wrong defendants with this lawsuit.”  “In actions...

Malone v. U.S. Pat. & Trademark Off., No. 23-1050, 2024 WL 3030650 (E.D. Va. June 17, 2024) (Hilton, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning paneling procedures for an Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) proceeding that was pending before USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”), as well as request for records concerning information about potential conflicts of interest of the Administrative Patent...

Sieverding v. United States¸ No. 22-198, 2024 WL 2941737 (D.N.H. June 11, 2024) (Elliott, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning plaintiff

Disposition:  Granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment

• Exemption 5, Deliberative Process Privilege & Attorney Work-Product Privilege:  The court holds that “[b]ecause the DOJ properly withheld all seven responsive pages under Exemption 5, the...

Nat’l Sec. Archive v. CIA, No. 23-5017, 2024 WL 2872953 (D.C. Cir. June 7, 2024) (Childs, J.)

Re:  Request for 1989 memorandum documenting unaddressed “‘analytical problem’” for U.S. Intelligence Community written by former Director of Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Leonard Perroots

Disposition:  Affirming district court’s grant of government’s motion for summary judgment

• Liti...