Valencia-Lucena v. U.S. Coast Guard

Decision Date25 June 1999
Docket NumberVALENCIA-LUCEN,A,No. 98-5041,98-5041
Citation180 F.3d 321,336 U.S. App. D.C. 386
PartiesCarlosppellant, v. UNITED STATES COAST GUARD, FOIA/PA Records Management, Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 97cv01693).

Jeffrey A. Rackow argued the cause as amicus curiae on behalf of appellant. With him on the briefs was Roy T. Englert, Jr., appointed by the court.

Carlos Valencia-Lucena, appearing pro se, was on the brief for appellant.

Meredith Manning, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellee. With her on the brief were Wilma A. Lewis, U.S. Attorney, and R. Craig Lawrence, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Before: WILLIAMS, ROGERS and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge ROGERS.

ROGERS, Circuit Judge:

Carlos Valencia-Lucena appeals from the grant of summary judgment to the Coast Guard in his lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552 et seq., seeking pages from the logbook of a Coast Guard cutter that seized containers of drugs dropped offshore from an airplane that he piloted. According to Valencia-Lucena's FOIA request, the Captain of the Coast Guard cutter brought the logbook to Valencia-Lucena's criminal trial and referred to pages of the logbook in testifying to the amount of drugs. In response to his first FOIA request for the logbook pages, the Coast Guard disclosed pages from another logbook. In a second FOIA request, Valencia-Lucena attached exemplars of the pages from the logbook that he was requesting. The Coast Guard responded that there were no other responsive documents. Because the record fails to show that the Coast Guard conducted an adequate search, we reverse.

I.

Carlos Valencia-Lucena was convicted in 1989 with four others of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 137.2 kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and conspiring to import into the United States 137.2 kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963. See United States v. Valencia-Lucena, 925 F.2d 506, 509 (1st Cir.1991)("Valencia-Lucena I"). At trial the government established that the conspirators intended to transport the drugs from Columbia, South America to the United States through the Virgin Islands by retrieving containers filled with cocaine dropped offshore from an airplane. See id. at 510. With the assistance of an informant, the government became aware of the conspiracy, and eventually, with the assistance of the Coast Guard, recovered 137.2 kilograms of cocaine that it claimed was dropped from a plane piloted by Valencia-Lucena on December 31, 1988. See id. at 509-10; United States v. Valencia-Lucena, 988 F.2d 228, 230 (1st Cir.1993)("Valencia-Lucena II"). Lieutenant Nesel, the Captain of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter MONHEGAN, participated in the seizure and testified. See Valencia-Lucena II, 988 F.2d at 233. According to Valencia-Lucena, Captain Nesel consulted a logbook during his testimony and the government introduced a number of pages from the logbook into evidence.

The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed his conviction but vacated his sentence of 120 months imprisonment, holding that a downward departure was improper and remanding for the district court to determine the reliability of the evidence as to the amount of cocaine. Valencia-Lucena I, 925 F.2d at 515-16. 1 Following a hearing in which the parties stipulated that the evidence was the same as at trial, the district court on remand found that the conspirators were responsible for 137.2 kilograms of cocaine, based on the informant's trial testimony and the amount actually recovered by the government after the arrests. See id. at 515;Valencia-Lucena II, 988 F.2d at 232-233. Denying the conspirators' discovery request (including a request for the Coast Guard's certified logbook) aimed at rebutting the government's evidence on the amount of cocaine, the district court resentenced Valencia-Lucena to 235 months imprisonment. See Valencia-Lucena II, 988 F.2d at 231, 233. On appeal, the First Circuit rejected various challenges to the new sentences and affirmed the denial of the discovery request, but remanded for specific findings on whether the amount of cocaine was foreseeable to other members of the conspiracy. Id. at 230, 233, 235. 2

After he was resentenced, Valencia-Lucena submitted two FOIA requests to the Coast Guard, the second of which is the subject of this appeal. 3 He submitted his first FOIA request in February 1993 for copies of the MONHEGAN's logbook entries for December 25, 1988 to January 10, 1989. The Coast Guard responded in August 1993 with redacted summary sheets noting weather observations and various operations from a different logbook than he was seeking. 4 Valencia-Lucena therefore submitted a second FOIA request in November 1993, specifying that he wanted copies of the captain's log, deck, and/or communications logbooks from December 30, 1988 to January 8, 1989. He identified Lieutenant Nesel as the captain of the vessel during that period, and specified that he was requesting "any entry of drugs found and/or seized by this vessel, circumstances involved, type and quantity of drugs found, description of containers in which drugs were found, to whom these drugs were found and/or seized, and to which Law Enforcement agency the drugs were delivered to in San Juan, PR and/or other port of entry." He also attached logbook pages introduced by the government as evidence at trial; the exemplars appear to represent the December 31, 1988, entry of a logbook authenticated under Lieutenant Nesel's signature, showing that the MONHEGAN responded to an airdrop and met with Drug Enforcement Agency officials to search the surrounding area.

After receiving acknowledgments by the Coast Guard of receipt of his second FOIA request in December 1993 and again in January 1994, Valencia-Lucena heard nothing more for over two years. In response to his letters of February 1995 and March 1996, the Coast Guard responded in the spring or early summer of 1996, treating the March letter as if it were a new FOIA request and stating that it had no responsive documents. The Coast Guard informed Valencia-Lucena, however, that there was "a possibility that the records ... requested/additional records responsive to [his] request may be located at the federal records center in Georgia" and provided him with the address so he could contact the center directly. Valencia-Lucena sent a letter to the Georgia center requesting the logbook documents, but received no response.

A third acknowledgment in July 1997 from the Coast Guard stated that his FOIA request would "be processed as soon as possible." After waiting nearly four years, Valencia-Lucena sought injunctive relief in the district court to compel the agency to act. Prompted by the lawsuit, the Coast Guard disclosed the same pages it had released in response to his first FOIA request and claimed "that a reasonable search for responsive records ha[d] been made and [that] no other places within the Coast Guard exist where the records are likely to be found." The district court granted the Coast Guard's motion for summary judgment, concluding that it had performed an adequate search. Valencia-Lucena appealed, and this court appointed amicus curiae. 5

II.

The law in this circuit on agency obligations under FOIA is long-established and embraces the congressional purpose of open government. See Campbell v. United States Dep't of Justice, 164 F.3d 20, 27 (D.C.Cir.1998). While recognizing that the number of requests for information may pose burdens on agencies, Congress determined its ultimate policy of open government should take precedence. See John Doe Agency v. John Doe Corp., 493 U.S. 146, 151, 110 S.Ct. 471, 107 L.Ed.2d 462 (1989); Department of the Airforce v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 361, 96 S.Ct. 1592, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976). The fundamental principle animating FOIA is public access to government documents. John Doe Agency, 493 U.S. at 151. Accordingly, this court has required agencies to make more than perfunctory searches and, indeed, to follow through on obvious leads to discover requested documents. Campbell, 164 F.3d at 28. An agency fulfills its obligations under FOIA if it can demonstrate beyond material doubt that its search was "reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents." Truitt v. Department of State, 897 F.2d 540, 542 (D.C.Cir.1990) (quoting Weisberg v. Department of Justice, 705 F.2d 1344, 1351 (D.C.Cir.1983)). "[T]he agency must show that it made a good faith effort to conduct a search for the requested records, using methods which can be reasonably expected to produce the information requested." Oglesby v. United States Dep't of the Army, 920 F.2d 57, 68 (D.C.Cir.1990) ("Oglesby I"). The agency "cannot limit its search" to only one or more places if there are additional sources "that are likely to turn up the information requested." Id; see also Campbell, 164 F.2d at 28.

A requester dissatisfied with the agency's response that no records have been found may challenge the adequacy of the agency's search by filing a lawsuit in the district court after exhausting any administrative remedies. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A)(i) & (C); Oglesby I, 920 F.2d at 67. At the summary judgment stage, where the agency has the burden to show that it acted in accordance with the statute, the court may rely on "[a] reasonably detailed affidavit, setting forth the search terms and the type of search performed, and averring that all files likely to contain responsive materials (if such records exist) were searched." Oglesby I, 920 F.2d at 68; see also Kowalczyck v. Department of Justice, 73 F.3d 386, 388 (D.C.Cir.1996); Weisberg, 705 F.2d at 1351. However, if a review of the record raises substantial doubt, particularly in view of "well defined requests and positive indications of overlooked...

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