Sieverding v. United States¸ No. 22-198, 2024 WL 2941737 (D.N.H. June 11, 2024) (Elliott, J.)
Date
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 defendants are entitled to summary judgment on [the FOIA claim].” “The defendants argue that pages 1-4, an AUSA’s notes for witness examination during a civil litigation, are exempt from disclosure because they are protected by the attorney work-product privilege.” “The court agrees.” “The attorney work-product ‘privilege protects work done by an attorney in anticipation of, or during, litigation from disclosure to the opposing party.’” “Notes that a government attorney prepares for use in witness examination during litigation are quintessential attorney work-product material and, as such, protected from disclosure under Exemption 5.”
The court also finds that “[t]he DOJ properly withheld pages 5-7 under the deliberative process privilege.” “Those documents reflect internal government communications considering appropriate responses to [plaintiff’s] [FOIA] requests.” “Therefore, they are protected from disclosure.”
- Exemption 6; Exemption 7(C): The court holds that “[p]ages 5, 6, and 7 contain the names, email addresses, or both of government employees involved in responding to [plaintiff’s] requests.” “[Plaintiff] has not shown, or attempted to show, that there is any public interest in the disclosure of this information.” “Therefore, the DOJ properly withheld pages 5-7 under Exemption 7(C).” “The defendants are entitled to summary judgment on [the FOIA claim] as to those pages for that additional reason.”
Court Decision Topic(s)
District Court opinions
Exemption 5
Exemption 5, Attorney Work-Product Privilege
Exemption 5, Deliberative Process Privilege
Exemption 6
Exemption 7(C)
Updated July 17, 2024