Mark Jackson v. US General Services Admin ( 2018 )

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 17-2847
___________
MARK JACKSON,
Appellant
v.
UNITED STATES GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION;
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
____________________________________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Civil Action No. 2:16-cv-05253)
District Judge: Honorable Cynthia M. Rufe
____________________________________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
April 2, 2018
Before: SHWARTZ, KRAUSE and FISHER, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: April 13, 2018)
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OPINION*
___________
PER CURIAM
Mark Jackson appeals pro se from an order of the United States District Court for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granting the defendants’ motion for summary
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
judgment in this action brought pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5
U.S.C. § 552, and the Privacy Act (PA), 5 U.S.C. § 552a.
In July 2016, Jackson filed FOIA/PA requests with the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) and the General Services Administration (GSA), seeking records pertaining to
himself. In particular, Jackson sought information related to his unsuccessful application
for a job as an IRS revenue agent.1 After conducting searches in several databases, the
agencies released in full 174 pages of responsive documents. In his complaint, Jackson
alleged that the agencies’ searches for responsive records were inadequate. The
defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, and submitted declarations from the
IRS and GSA employees who searched for records responsive to Jackson’s request. The
District Court granted the motion for summary judgment, concluding that the
“Defendants have established as a matter of law that their searches were adequate and
undertaken in good faith.” Jackson v. United States Gen. Servs. Admin., 267 F. Supp. 3d
617, 624 (E.D. Pa. 2017). Jackson appealed.
We employ a two-tiered test in reviewing an order of a district court granting
summary judgment in proceedings seeking disclosure under the FOIA. First, we must
“decide whether the district court had an adequate factual basis for its determination[;]”
and, second, we must “decide whether that determination was clearly erroneous.”
1
Initially, the IRS informed Jackson that he had been selected for the position,
conditioned upon favorable suitability checks, including those related to his criminal
history. Later, however, the IRS withdrew its offer because a fingerprint check revealed
pending criminal charges against Jackson.
2
Abdelfattah v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 488 F.3d 178, 182 (3d Cir. 2007)
(quotations, citations omitted). Under this standard, we will reverse only “if the findings
are unsupported by substantial evidence, lack adequate evidentiary support in the record,
are against the clear weight of the evidence or where the district court has
misapprehended the weight of the evidence.” Id. (quoting Lame v. United States Dep’t
of Justice, 767 F.2d 66, 70 (3d Cir. 1985)). Summary judgment may be granted on the
basis of agency affidavits if they are specific and detailed, and if there is no contradictory
evidence on the record or evidence of agency bad faith. See Manna v. U.S. Dep’t of
Justice, 51 F.3d 1158, 1162-63 (3d Cir. 1995); Am. Friends Serv. Comm. v. Dep’t of
Defense, 831 F.2d 441, 444 (3d Cir. 1987).
Under the FOIA, an agency has a duty to conduct a reasonable search for
responsive records. See Oglesby v. Department of the Army, 920 F.2d 57, 68 (D.C. Cir.
1990). The relevant inquiry is not “whether there might exist any other documents
possibly responsive to the request, but rather whether the search for those documents was
adequate.” Steinberg v. United States Dep’t of Justice, 23 F.3d 548, 551 (D.C. Cir.
1994) (quoting Weisberg v. Dep’t. of Justice, 745 F.2d 1476, 1485 (D.C. Cir. 1984)). To
demonstrate the adequacy of its search, the agency should provide “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 … were searched.” Valencia-Lucena
v. United States Coast Guard, 180 F.3d 321, 326 (D.C. Cir. 1999).
3
We agree that the defendants’ submissions in this case establish that the search
was adequate and “reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents.” Oglesby,
920 F.2d at 68. The defendants submitted detailed declarations from a Government
Information Specialist in the IRS’s Disclosure Office and from the GSA employee in
charge of the “USAccess” system, which helps process identification cards for federal
agencies. Those declarations described Jackson’s request, identified the employees who
were involved in the search, explained the search terms used, specified the systems that
were searched, and stated that all files likely to contain responsive materials had been
searched. The IRS and GSA employees also submitted amended and supplemental
declarations in response to specific complaints raised by Jackson in response to the
motion for summary judgment. For instance, in response to Jackson’s charge that the
defendants failed to treat his request as arising under the Privacy Act, and thereby failed
to conduct adequate searches, the amended declarations made clear that the defendants
did not limit their searches, or withhold documents, on the basis that they were
responding to only a FOIA request. Furthermore, the supplemental declarations
described additional searches that were conducted based on Jackson’s claim that the
initial searches were inadequate. In addition to the declarations, the defendants produced
a chart that outlined each of the requested documents and the databases where Jackson
believed those documents could be found, along with a corresponding description of the
search methods and results.
4
In his brief, Jackson alleges that the IRS failed to conduct a search of its “HR
Connect” database. According to Jackson, that database contains material that he
submitted as part of his employment application. Notably, however, the defendants
searched for and located Jackson’s complete applicant file in a separate database used to
store information pertaining to new hires. That search was reasonably calculated to
uncover the responsive documents, and Jackson’s “mere speculation that as yet
uncovered documents might exist, does not undermine the determination that the agency
conducted an adequate search for the requested records.” Wilbur v. CIA, 355 F.3d 675,
678 (D.C. Cir. 2004).
Jackson also complains that “there is no information provided as to the process
used by [an IRS employee who works in Employment Operations] in choosing which
databases to search.” But that IRS employee adequately explained that she “chose to
search the locations she searched based on her own personal knowledge of the files
maintained in such systems.” Cf. Spannaus v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 813 F.2d 1285, 1289
(4th Cir. 1987) (holding that declarant’s attestation “to his personal knowledge of the
procedures used in handling [the] request and his familiarity with the documents in
question” satisfies “personal knowledge” requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
56). Furthermore, contrary to Jackson’s contention, the search was not deficient simply
because the IRS found additional documents in response to requests that Jackson made
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during the District Court proceedings.2 See Meeropol v. Meese, 790 F.2d 942, 953 (D.C.
Cir. 1986) (“[T]he additional releases suggest a stronger, rather than a weaker, basis for
accepting the integrity of the search.”) (internal quotation omitted).
Jackson further complains that the defendants did not disclose emails which he
believes must exist. But an agency’s failure to locate every responsive record does not
undermine an otherwise reasonable search. Lahr v. NTSB, 569 F.3d 964, 988 (9th Cir.
2009) (“[T]he failure to produce or identify a few isolated documents cannot by itself
prove the searches inadequate.”). Jackson also argued that the declarations were deficient
because they failed to explain “what search actually produced” four specific pages from
the “USAccess” system. To the extent that such an accounting is required, we conclude
that the GSA employee in charge of the “USAccess” system adequately explained that he
located those pages after using the “Applicant Status Report tool” to search “all files
likely to contain responsive materials.”
Furthermore, we will not consider the new evidence that Jackson presents on
appeal. The Rules of Appellate Procedure state that the record on appeal consists of the
“original papers and exhibits filed in the district court.” Fed. R. App. P. 10(a). Although
Rule 10(e) allows the record to be supplemented, its purpose is to “correct inadvertent
2
In response to the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, Jackson complained that
the IRS did not search the Security Entry and Tracking System, the GovTrip database, or
the SmartPay database. While not conceding that its initial searches were inadequate, the
defendants, “in a showing of good faith,” searched those records systems. No responsive
documents were located in the Security Entry and Tracking System. Searches of the
GovTrip and SmartPay database yielded responsive documents, totaling nine pages.
6
omissions, not to introduce new evidence.” In re: Application of Ariel Adan, 437 F.3d
381, 389 n.3 (3d Cir. 2006). Accordingly, we “will not consider new evidence on appeal
absent extraordinary circumstances.” Id. (extraordinary circumstances are those that
render the case moot or alter the appropriateness of injunctive relief, show a change in
pertinent law, or demonstrate facts of which a court may take judicial notice). Here,
Jackson seeks to introduce “an email-chain” that was disclosed to him in connection with
an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proceeding. He claims that the
existence of the emails demonstrates that the defendants’ searches were inadequate. We
conclude that this does not qualify as an extraordinary circumstance for purposes of
supplementing the record on appeal. Moreover, even if we did consider the new
evidence, it would not alter our determination that the defendants’ searches were
adequate. See Nation Magazine v. U.S. Customs Serv., 71 F.3d 885, 892 n.7 (D.C. Cir.
1995) (“Of course, failure to turn up [a specified] document does not alone render the
search inadequate.”).
Finally, citing the Privacy Act, Jackson asserts that the defendants should expunge
“derogatory information” that appears in his employment application records. The
Privacy Act allows an individual to “request amendment of a record pertaining to him”
on the basis that it is “not accurate, relevant, timely, or complete[,]” 5 U.S.C.
§ 552a(d)(2)(B)(i), and permits a court to order an agency to amend an individual’s
record. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(2)(A); Quinn v. Stone, 978 F.2d 126, 137 (3d Cir. 1992).
Jackson does not identify the “derogatory information,” but it appears that he seeks the
7
removal of references to the criminal charges that were pending against him when he
applied for the revenue agent job. According to Jackson, those charges were later
dismissed. The District Court concluded that Jackson was not entitled to expungement
because the records accurately reflected that his employment offer was rescinded based
on the fingerprint check. See Jackson, 267 F. Supp. 3d at 624. We agree. “[T]he
Privacy Act does not allow a court to alter records that accurately reflect an
administrative decision, or the opinions behind that administrative decision.” Reinbold v.
Evers, 187 F.3d 348, 361 (4th Cir. 1999). Although Jackson asserts that the “derogatory
information was not accessed or used, at all, prior to the … improper disqualification
decision made by defendant IRS,” he does not dispute that the information is accurate.
Under these circumstances, he is not entitled to expungement under the Privacy Act.
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the judgment of the District Court.
Appellees’ motion to summarily affirm is denied as moot.
8