Carlson v. U.S. Postal Serv., Case No. 15-cv-06055-JCS
| Decision Date | 18 August 2017 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 15-cv-06055-JCS |
| Parties | DOUGLAS F. CARLSON, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of California |
Plaintiff Douglas F. Carlson, proceeding pro se, filed this action against the United States Postal Service ("Postal Service") seeking documents responsive to three requests that he submitted under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552. The Postal Service responded to the requests after Carlson filed his complaint, producing responsive documents to all three requests. It redacted certain information to which Plaintiff claims he is entitled, however. Presently before the Court are the parties' summary judgment motions ("the Motions"). A hearing on the Motions was held on June 30, 2017 at 9:30 a.m. For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS Carlson's motion for summary judgment and DENIES the Postal Service's motion for summary judgment.1
Carlson is a self-described "postal watchdog and consumer advocate." Declaration of Douglas F. Carlson in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment, Docket No. 42 ("Carlson Motion Decl.") ¶ 1. According to Carlson, "[f]or over 20 years, [he has] advocated for betterpostal services and lower rates and fees, in Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) proceedings and in direct communications with the Postal Service." Id. ¶ 2. He estimates that he has written approximately 1,200 letters to the Postal Service relating to service issues. Id. ¶ 8. He has also submitted hundreds of FOIA requests to obtain records from the Postal Service. See Declaration of Matthew J. Connolly, Esq., Docket No. 40-2 ("Connolly Motion Decl.) ¶ 6 (). According to the Postal Service, he has filed at least six lawsuits against the Postal Service related to his FOIA activity. Declaration of Janine Castorina ("Castorina Motion Decl.") ¶ 6.
Carlson contends he has "improved collection times in many cities, including Santa Cruz, California" due to his efforts. Id. ¶ 6. He points to an Oakland Tribune editorial that complimented him personally for his efforts to improve service. Carlson Motion Decl. ¶ 5 & App. 1 ().
Carlson also considers his interest in the Postal Service to be a hobby and shares his interest with other postal enthusiasts. Id. ¶ 12. According to Carlson, Id.; see also Declaration of Evan Kalish ("Kalish Decl.") ¶ 4 ().
On January 10, 2015, the Santa Cruz Sentinel ran an article about the relocation of the East Santa Cruz Station post office ("the East Santa Cruz Station"). Carlson Motion Decl. ¶ 14 (). The article included pictures of the old post office location and information about the opening of the new post office. Id. Carlson visited the new location on the afternoon of January 11, 2015, where contractors were getting the new post office ready for business. Id. ¶ 15. He observed contractors hanging a sign and transferring stencils to the window. Id. Carlson considered these preparations to open the new post office newsworthy and therefore took photographs and videos of these activities while standing in a parking lot of an adjacent shopping center. Id.; see also Carlson Reply, Docket No. 51 at 12 ().
As Carlson was making a video recording, a "woman inside the building, whom [Carlson] had encountered when [he] first arrived at the site, asked [him] why [he] was taking photographs." Id. ¶ 16. Carlson responded that he was taking photographs "just for personal interest" and explained that he had "never actually watched a post office being built." Id. According to Carlson, the woman asked him for his name. Id. He further contends that after he provided his name, the woman said "in a negative tone of voice, 'That name sounds familiar'" and then disappeared from view inside the building. Id.2
A few minutes later, another woman approached Carlson from behind, held a cellular phone "not more than two or three feet from [his] face," and said, "Smile." Id. ¶ 17. According to Carlson, after she took at least one photograph of him, the woman walked into the post office and started talking with the woman who had first spoken to Carlson. Id. Carlson states in hisdeclaration that he saw that the individual who had photographed him was carrying a plastic card that he believed was an identification badge. Id. The badge was mostly white but Carlson states that he could see "United States of America" in small letters. Id. He further states that the woman who photographed him did not ask him his name but that enough time had passed from the time the woman inside had asked Carlson his name for that individual to call the person who took pictures of him and tell the photographer his name. Id.
According to Carlson, immediately after the woman stopped photographing him, he left the post office, fearing that the photographer was a postal inspector "and the Postal Service planned to open a criminal investigation of or prosecution against [him] for violating an unknown law or regulation or for another reasons." Third Declaration of Douglas Carlson ("Carlson Reply Decl.") ¶ 2.
Carlson sent some of the photographs that he had taken of the East Santa Cruz Station to Evan Kalish, who operates the Postlandia blog, and Kalish included them in his blog in a section entitled "Under Construction." Carlson Motion Decl. ¶ 23; Kalish Decl. ¶ 8. The post included "before and after" pictures of the East Santa Cruz Station post office. Kalish Decl. ¶ 8. According to Carlson, the blog post included a link to Carlson's Flickr account, which "counted over 160 of some photographs and each of two videos." Carlson Motion Decl. ¶ 23.
The next day, on January 12, 2015, Carlson returned to the East Santa Cruz Station to look for the two women involved in the incident described above ("Incident" or "Santa Cruz Incident") and identify them. Id. ¶ 18. Carlson did not see the women, and so he contacted a supervisor, Tung Tran, who informed Carlson that the women would have come from the main Santa Cruz post office. Id. According to Carlson, Tran refused to provide him with the name of any supervisors or managers of customer service at the Santa Cruz post office. Id.
On January 13, 2015, Carlson called the Santa Cruz post office and talked to officer-in-charge Jae An, who told Carlson that he was "unfamiliar with the incident" and that none of his staff had been at the East Santa Cruz Station on January 11, 2015. Id. ¶ 19. He told Carlson andthat the person he had seen inside the post office might have been an independent contractor.3 Id.
On January 14, 2015, Carlson sent an email to Claire T. Cormier, who was representing the Postal Service in a FOIA case unrelated to the present matter (hereinafter, the "6017 Case"), to seek assistance in identifying the individuals involved in the Incident. Declaration of Claire T. Cormier, Docket No. 40-3 ("Cormier Motion Decl.") ¶ 3 & Ex. A; see also Carlson v. United States Postal Service, no. 13-cv-6017-JSC, 2015 WL 9258072, *1 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 18, 2015). Carlson and Cormier were scheduled to meet two days later at a settlement conference in an unrelated FOIA case against the Postal Service. Id. Ex. A. In the email, Carlson stated that "[a] resolution of this question may assist settlement discussions on Friday." Id. After describing the Incident, Carlson stated that he wanted to know the name and title of both the woman inside the post office who had asked him his name and the woman who took his photograph. Id. Regarding the woman who had photographed him, Carlson explained that "[a]lthough her conduct was legal, [he] wish[ed] to complain to an appropriate party in the Postal Service about her actions, which were confrontational and intimidating toward a member of the public who was engaged in a legal, constitutionally protected activity." Id.
The parties attended the January 16, 2015 settlement conference. Carlson Motion Decl. ¶ 21. According to Carlson, at the settlement conference, attorneys Sara Snyder and Jeremy Watson discussed the Incident with Carlson but did not disclose the identities of the individuals involved in it. Id.4
On January 21, 2015, Carlson submitted a FOIA request to the Postal Service ("First FOIA Request") asking that the Postal Service to "provide all photographs that a postal employee took of [him] on Sunday, ...
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