Maydak v. U.S. Dept. of Justice

• Decision Date: 21 March 2003
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 00-0562(RBW).,CIV.A. 00-0562(RBW).
• Citation: 254 F.Supp.2d 23
• Parties: Keith MAYDAK, Plaintiff, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

254 F.Supp.2d 23

Keith MAYDAK, Plaintiff, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE et al., Defendants.

No. CIV.A. 00-0562(RBW).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

March 21, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Keith Maydak, North Versailles, PA, pro se.

Mark E. Nagle, Laurie J. Weinstein, U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WALTON, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This action has been filed pro se by a federal prisoner under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552 (2000), and the Privacy Act ("PA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552a (2000). Plaintiff has named as defendants, the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ"), the Department of the Treasury ("DOT"), the Department of State ("DOS") and the Executive Office of the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy ("EOPOSTP"). In his 59-count amended complaint, plaintiff challenges the agencies' responses to his various requests for information he is seeking to obtain pursuant to the FOIA and the PA. Currently pending before the Court are dispositive motions for either dismissal, summary judgment or partial summary judgment brought on behalf of each agency or agency-component and plaintiffs cross motions for summary judgment, which he has combined with his oppositions to defendants' dispositive motions. For the reasons outlined below, the Court will take the following action: Deny plaintiffs motions for summary judgment because they do not comply with the filing requirements of Local Civil Rule 7.1(h). In addition, plaintiff has filed separate motions to voluntarily dismiss certain counts of the amended complaint under Fed. R.Civ.P. 41, which are unopposed by defendants. The Court therefore will grant the Rule 41 motions and dismiss counts 1, 2, 15, 29, 36 and 59 accordingly.¹ The Court will deny all of the agencies' motions for summary judgment, except that it will grant the DOT's motion for summary judgment brought on behalf of its component, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), the DOJ's unopposed motion for partial summary judgment brought on behalf of the United States Marshals Service ("USMS"), and part of the DOJ's motion for partial summary judgment brought on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"). Moreover, the Court will grant the DOJ's motions to dismiss the FOIA claim against the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") and the PA claims against the Bureau of Prisons ("BOP").

II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

The Court may dismiss a complaint on the ground that it fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) if it appears, assuming the alleged facts to be true and drawing all inference in plaintiffs favor, that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief. Harris v. Ladner, 127 F.3d 1121, 1123 (D.C.Cir.1997), cert. denied 531 U.S. 1147, 121 S.Ct. 1087, 148 L.Ed.2d 962 (2001); Kowal v. MCI Communications Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994).

Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issues of material fact are in dispute and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48,106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In a FOIA action, a federal agency is required to release all records that are responsive to a request for the production of the records. The Court is authorized under the FOIA "to enjoin [a federal] agency from withholding agency records and to order the production of any agency records improperly withheld from the complainant." 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B); see Kissinger v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 445 U.S. 136, 139, 100 S.Ct. 960, 63 L.Ed.2d 267 (1980). When a FOIA requester files a civil complaint based on the agency's alleged improper withholding of records, the agency has the burden of proving that "each document that falls within the class requested either has been produced, is unidentifiable, or is wholly exempt from the Act's inspection requirements." Goland v. CIA 607 F.2d 339, 352 (D.C.Cir.1978), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 927, 100 S.Ct. 1312, 63 L.Ed.2d 759 (1980) (internal citation and quotation omitted); see also Maydak v. Dep't of Justice, 218 F.3d 760, 764 (D.C.Cir.2000) (the government has the burden of proving each claimed FOIA exemption).

In a FOIA action, the Court may award summary judgment to an agency solely on the basis of information provided in affidavits or declarations when the affidavits or declarations describe "the documents and the justifications for nondisclosure with reasonably specific detail, demonstrate that the information withheld logically falls within the claimed exemption, and are not controverted by either contrary evidence in the record nor by evidence of agency bad faith." Military Audit Project v. Casey, 656 F.2d 724, 738 (D.C.Cir.1981); see also Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820, 826 (D.C.Cir.1973), cert. denied 415 U.S. 977, 94 S.Ct. 1564, 39 L.Ed.2d 873 (1974). "The affidavits will not suffice if the agency's claims are conclusory, merely reciting statutory standards, or if they are too vague or sweeping." Quinon v. FBI, 86 F.3d 1222, 1227 (D.C.Cir.1996).

The Court will apply these standards to the following review of each agency's dismissal and summary judgment motion.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Department of Justice

Plaintiff requested a variety of information from the following DOJ components: the BOP, the FBI, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys ("EOUSA"), the DEA and the USMS; some of the requests have been denied. It appears, however, that plaintiff is no longer challenging most of the EOUSA's responses to his requests because of subsequent disclosures made in an unrelated case. See Plaintiffs "Motion Pursuant to F.R.Cv.P. 41(a) to Dismiss Counts I, II, XV, and XXXVI Without Prejudice Based on Post-Suit FOIA Disclosures" [Doc. # 83-1].

Summary judgment motions have been filed on behalf of the several DOJ components. Plaintiff has not opposed the USMS' motion for partial summary judgment. The Court therefore will grant that motion as conceded. The Court will address the separately filed motions of the BOP and the FBI, and the joint motion of the DEA and the EOUSA.²

(1.) The Bureau of Prisons' Motion

In support of its summary judgment motion [Doc. # 65-2], the BOP proffers the Supplemental Declaration of Henry J. Sadowski ("Sadowski Decl." or "Exhibit B"), Regional Counsel for BOP's Northeast Regional Office, and attachments that include three Vaughn³ indices (Gov't Exhibits Bl, C and D). In addition to this evidence and defendants' statement of undisputed facts ("Facts"), the Court will rely on defendants' charts that summarize plaintiffs FOIA requests and coordinate the requests with the counts of the amended complaint. Gov't Exhibits A and Al. At issue are plaintiffs 38 FOIA requests to the BOP for information pertaining to himself, and a hosts of events related to the conditions of his confinement. See generally Defendants' Partial Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment, Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute at 2-35. Plaintiff also requested under the Privacy Act, a "copy of the log of disclosures of information relating to [him] to other Federal agencies or third parties, whether such disclosure was oral, written or electronic." Facts 1129 (Count 14); Gov't Exhibit B3, p. 1. In response to this latter request, the BOP responded that it was not required to maintain such a log, citing the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a (c)(3). It nonetheless performed a search for records "pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act" but failed to locate any responsive records. Facts f 30; Gov't Exhibit B3, p. 2.⁴

Plaintiff has opposed many, but not all of the BOP's grounds for summary judgment on the applicable counts of the amended complaint. The Court finds that plaintiff has not opposed, and therefore has conceded, the BOP's assertions with respect to counts 3-5, 7, 17, 20, 29, 30, 38, 40. The Court will now address the claims related to the following disputed counts: 10, 12, 14, 16, 22, 23, 28, 31, 32 (and duplicate 45), 33, 34, 35, 39, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, and 53.

(a.) Privacy Act Claims

In Count 12, plaintiff challenges the BOP's reliance on exemption (k)(6) of the PA as grounds for withholding records pertaining to his "psychological and psychiatric test results, consultation reports, or other records ...." Gov't Exhibit B3, Attachment 2 ("Att.") at 1. The BOP located a four-page document as a result of its search but determined that its release "could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any person and would compromise the objectivity or fairness of the testing or examination process." Id., Att. at 2. The BOP invoked PA exemption (k)(6) and FOIA exemption 7(F) as support for its position. Id. Plaintiff administratively appealed the decision. Id., Att. at 3. The administrative appeal was denied based on the determination that only "[o]ne document [was] responsive to [his] request ..." and that the one document was exempt from disclosure pursuant to PA exemption (j)(2) and FOIA exemption 2. Id., Att. at 5. The BOP now reasserts exemption (k)(6) of the PA as the basis for withholding the document. Both exemptions (j)(2) and (k)(6) of the PA authorize the head of an agency to exempt certain systems of records from the statute's access provisions, see discussion below, but exemption (k)(6) applies only to "testing or examination material used solely to determine individual qualifications for appointment or promotion in the Federal service ...." 5 U.S.C. § 552a(k)(6). Thus, plaintiff correctly avers that...