Parker v. EOUSA, No. 10-2068, 2015 WL 273040 (D.D.C. Jan. 21, 2015) (Jackson, J.)

Parker v. EOUSA, No. 10-2068, 2015 WL 273040 (D.D.C. Jan. 21, 2015) (Jackson, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning former Assistant United States Attorney

Disposition: Dismissing case; ordering defendant to release one document with certain redactions

• Procedural Considerations, Searching for Responsive Records:  The court holds that "it is fair to conclude that" the one record at issue is responsive to "plaintiff's FOIA request, which sought records related to disciplinary matters."  The court explains that "this document was located in the files of a former U.S. Attorney in a folder labeled with [the former AUSA at issue's] name, and it discusses matters related to potential disciplinary action to be taken against [this AUSA]."  "Moreover, defendant does not deny that the unnamed female AUSA discussed in the record was [the AUSA at issue]."
   
• Exemption 5, Deliberative Process Privilege, Attorney-Client Privilege, Attorney Work-Product Privilege:  The court holds that "although this record is responsive to plaintiff's FOIA request, it also contains privileged material that is subject to withholding under FOIA Exemption 5."  The court finds that the document "falls within the ambit of all three of these civil evidentiary privileges: its contents are 'both predecisional and deliberative,' . . . it reflects a confidential attorney-client communication, . . . and it appears to have been 'prepared in the course of an investigation that was undertaken with litigation in mind.'"  "There are small and segregable portions of the record, however, that are not privileged, and so defendant will be ordered to release it with [certain] redactions."