Martinez v. DOJ, No. 16-1506, 2018 WL 1092151 (D.D.C. Feb. 27, 2018) (Kelly, J.)

Martinez v. DOJ, No. 16-1506, 2018 WL 1092151 (D.D.C. Feb. 27, 2018) (Kelly, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning Chicano civil rights movement in Colorado from 1968 to 1978

Disposition: Denying defendants' motion to sever

• Litigation Considerations:  The court denies defendant's motion to sever.  First, "[t]he Court concludes that [plaintiff's] FOIA requests involve the same transaction because they are 'logically related.'"  The court finds that "[a]lthough each agency received a request for a different combination of individuals, organizations, and events, there is significant overlap among the requests[.]"  "Furthermore, [plaintiff] submitted all of the FOIA requests at issue to Defendants on the same day."  Also, "Defendants are all federal agencies with law enforcement and intelligence-gathering functions that [plaintiff] asserts monitored the Chicano civil rights movement in Colorado during the time period in question."  Second, "[t]he Court also concludes that [plaintiff's] claims arise under a common question of law or fact."  The court finds that "due to the overlapping nature of [plaintiff's] requests, it is likely that the Court will be asked to apply the same exceptions to documents and records that, if not identical, at least share the same underlying subject matter."  Finally, the court finds that defendants will not be prejudiced by proceeding as joined.