Black v. U.S. Dep't of Justice

69 F.Supp.3d 26

Adarus Mazio Black, Plaintiff

v.U.S. Department of Justice, et al, Defendants.

Civil No. 13–1195 CKK

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed September 23, 2014

Adarus Mazio Black, Coleman, FL, pro se.

Dionne S. Shy, Wenqiong Fu, Michelle Jean Seo, U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLLEEN KOLLAR–KOTELLY, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff Adarus Mazio Black submitted a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request with the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (“EOUSA”) seeking all criminal files possessed by the EOUSA referencing Aida Prendushi and all tape recordings and wiretaps which reference Ms. Prendushi or Ms. Prendushi speaking to “John Beason, Waad Murad, Joey Murad, David White, Joe Hermosillo, Case No. 06–CR–20385–MOB–SDP–1, Undercover Agents, and Reginald Coleman.” Def.s' Ex. A, ECF No. [22]. Dissatisfied with the agency's refusal to search for responsive documents pursuant to the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, and FOIA Exemptions 6 and 7(C), Plaintiff filed suit against the Department of Justice and the EOUSA on August 2, 2013. Presently before the Court is Defendants' [22] Motion to Dismiss or, in the alternative, for Summary Judgment and Plaintiff's [29] Cross–Motion for Summary Judgment. Upon consideration of the pleadings,¹ the relevant legal authorities, and the record as a whole, the Court finds that Defendants have properly invoked Exemption 7(C) to justify their refusal to conduct a search in response to Plaintiff's FOIA request. Accordingly, Defendants' [22] Motion to Dismiss or, in the alternative, for Summary Judgment is GRANTED and Plaintiff's [29] Cross–Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Adarus Mazio Black was convicted on May 29, 2009, in the Eastern District of Michigan, Detroit Division, of Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession of Cocaine and Marijuana for Intended Distribution, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841, 846. By letter dated February 27, 2013, Plaintiff submitted a FOIA request for:

All criminal files which in any fashion reference the name of the person, “Aida Prendushi” with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, Michigan, Los Angelos [sic], California, and the Southern District of New York. I am requesting all tape recordings and wire taps (or the transcribed equivalents) which in any fashion reference “Aida Prendushi” in them. I am further requesting all tape recordings, wire recordings which involve or reference Aida Prendushi, speaking to John Beason, Waad Murad, Joey Murad, David White, Joel Hermosillo, Case No. 06–CR–20385–MOB–SDP–1, undercover agents and Reginald Coleman.

Def.s' Ex. A, ECF No. [22–4]. By letter dated April 8, 2013, the EOUSA responded to Plaintiff informing him that since his entire request was for records concerning third parties, those records could not be released without “express authorization and consent of the third party, proof that the subject of [the] request is deceased, or a clear demonstration that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the personal privacy interest and that significant public benefit would result from the disclosure of the requested records.” Def.s' Ex. B, ECF No. [22–4]. The EOUSA concluded that since Plaintiff had not provided any of the above information, “the release of records concerning a third party would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and be in violation of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a.” Id. The EOUSA also categorically denied the request pursuant to sections (b)(6) and (b)(7)(C) of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552.² Id. Plaintiff appealed the denial of his request to the Office of Information Policy (“OIP”) on or around April 23, 2013. See Def. s' Ex. C, ECF No. [22–4]. OIP affirmed the EOUSA's refusal to conduct a search for the requested records finding that “any responsive request would be categorically exempt from disclosure” pursuant to Exemption 7(C). Def. s' Ex. E, ECF No. [22–4].

On August 2, 2013, Plaintiff filed suit in this Court against the U.S. Department of Justice and the EOUSA. Defendants moved the Court to dismiss this case or, alternatively, to enter summary judgment in Defendants' favor on December 17, 2013. On February 26, 2014, Plaintiff filed a Cross–Motion for Summary Judgment.

Defendants move the Court to dismiss this case or, alternatively, to enter summary judgment in Defendants' favor, arguing that Defendants properly refused to conduct a search for responsive documents pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 6 and 7(C). Plaintiff cross-moves the Court to enter summary judgment in his favor, arguing that Defendants improperly invoked Exemption 7(C).

On June 24, 2014, the Court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order holding in abeyance the parties' motions because the Court found it could not resolve the cross-motions without further briefing.

See ECF No. [39]. As Defendants did not respond to Plaintiff's argument that the records he requested must be disclosed because they are in the public domain, the Court ordered Defendants to file supplemental briefing addressing whether Plaintiff had made a sufficient argument for applying the public domain doctrine to his FOIA request and whether all or any portion of the information requested by Plaintiff is actually in the public domain. In addition, since Defendants did not provide any information as to whether the third parties in Plaintiff's FOIA request are alive or dead and did not explain any efforts Defendants had undertaken to ascertain that information, the Court ordered Defendants to provide supplemental briefing addressing the efforts they have made to ascertain the third parties' life status and any information they have regarding the third parties' life status. The Court received Defendants' Supplemental Memorandum on August 29, 2014. Plaintiff was afforded an opportunity to respond to Defendants' argument about Plaintiff's invocation of the public domain doctrine. Plaintiff filed a response on September 12, 2014. As the Court finds that both motions are now fully briefed, this matter is ripe for review.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Congress enacted FOIA to “pierce the veil of administrative secrecy and to open agency action to the light of public scrutiny.” Dep't of the Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 361, 96 S.Ct. 1592, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Congress remained sensitive to the need to achieve balance between these objectives and the potential that “legitimate governmental and private interests could be harmed by release of certain types of information.” Critical Mass Energy Project v. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 975 F.2d 871, 872 (D.C.Cir.1992) (en banc) (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 984, 113 S.Ct. 1579, 123 L.Ed.2d 147 (1993). To that end, FOIA “requires federal agencies to make Government records available to the public, subject to nine exemptions for specific categories of material.” Milner v. Dep't of Navy, 562 U.S. 562, 131 S.Ct. 1259, 1261–62, 179 L.Ed.2d 268 (2011). Ultimately, “disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective of the Act.” Rose, 425 U.S. at 361, 96 S.Ct. 1592. For this reason, the “exemptions are explicitly made exclusive, and must be narrowly construed.” Milner, 131 S.Ct. at 1262 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

When presented with a motion for summary judgment in this context,³ the district court must conduct a “de novo” review of the record, which requires the court to “ascertain whether the agency has sustained its burden of demonstrating that the documents requested ... are exempt from disclosure under the FOIA.”

Multi Ag Media LLC v. Dep't of Agriculture, 515 F.3d 1224, 1227 (D.C.Cir.2008) (citation omitted). The burden is on the agency to justify its response to the plaintiff's request. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B). “An agency may sustain its burden by means of affidavits, but only if they contain reasonable specificity of detail rather than merely conclusory statements, and if they are not called into question by contradictory evidence in the record or by evidence of agency bad faith.” Multi Ag Media, 515 F.3d at 1227 (citation omitted). “If an agency's affidavit describes the justifications for withholding the information with specific detail, demonstrates that the information withheld logically falls within the claimed exemption, and is not contradicted by contrary evidence in the record or by evidence of the agency's bad faith, then summary judgment is warranted on the basis of the affidavit alone.” Am. Civil Liberties Union v. Dep't of Defense, 628 F.3d 612, 619 (D.C.Cir.2011) (citations omitted). “Uncontradicted, plausible affidavits showing reasonable specificity and a logical relation to the exemption are likely to prevail.” Ancient Coin Collectors Guild v. Dep't of State, 641 F.3d 504, 509 (D.C.Cir.2011) (citation omitted). Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings, the discovery materials on file, and any affidavits or declarations “show[ ] that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). With these principles in mind, the Court turns to the merits of the parties' motions.

III. DISCUSSION

Defendants seek summary judgment on the grounds that the agencies properly refused to conduct a search for responsive documents pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 6 and 7(C). FOIA Exemption 6 provides that an agency may withhold “personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6). Similarly, Exemption 7(C), in relevant part, permits an agency to withhold “records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information ... could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Id. § 552(b)(7)(C). “The co...