Mancuso v. EPA, No. 12-1027, 2014 WL 4715643 (N.D.N.Y. Sept. 22, 2014) (Kahn, J.)

Mancuso v. EPA, No. 12-1027, 2014 WL 4715643 (N.D.N.Y. Sept. 22, 2014) (Kahn, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning plaintiff

Disposition: Granting defendant's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  The court grants defendant's summary judgment motion, first finding that "[d]efendant's submissions are facially adequate and, accordingly, are presumed to have been made in good faith."  The court explains that "[d]efendant requested searches from head officials at three offices most likely to possess the air monitoring reports."  "Thus, the searches were 'reasonably calculated' to find the requested air monitoring reports, if they did in fact exist."  "Moreover, the affiants described the general subject matter and contents of the files, as well as the documents that had previously been disclosed to Plaintiff."  Additionally, "[t]he Court finds that Defendant's initial error and delay in providing Plaintiff with the requested documents are insufficient alone to rebut the presumption of good faith afforded Defendant."