Murphy v. Executive Office for United States Attorneys ( 2014 )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
JAMES MURPHY, )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
v. ) Civ. Action No. 13-0573 (ESH)
)
EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR )
UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS, )
)
Defendant. )
__________________________________ )
MEMORANDUM OPINION
In December 2013, the Court granted in part and denied in part defendant’s motion for
summary judgment on plaintiff’s Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) claims and ordered the
release of certain information “if . . . contained in an agency record.” See generally Dec. 6, 2013
Mem. Op. and Order [ECF No. 21] (“Mem. Op. I”). Both parties have moved for
reconsideration. See Def.’s Mot. for Recons. or, in the Alternative, to Alter or Amend
Judgment, and Mot. for Stay [ECF No. # 24]; Pl.’s Mot. to Alter or Amend the Judgment [ECF
No. 25]. In light of defendant’s motion, the Court ordered defendant to submit for in camera
review the unredacted records containing information withheld under FOIA exemption 3 and
stayed the release of any information pending further order. See Dec. 30, 2013 Min. Order.
Upon consideration of the parties’ motions and the documents which have been submitted in
camera, the Court will grant defendant’s motion for reconsideration, deny plaintiff’s motion for
reconsideration, and enter judgment accordingly.
Since a judgment has not been entered on any claim, the Court will consider both motions
to reconsider under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 54(b) governs
reconsideration of interlocutory or non-final orders, and a motion for such relief is considered
under the standard Aas justice requires.@ Campbell v. United States Dep't of Justice, 231 F. Supp.
2d 1, 7 (D.D.C. 2002) (quoting Childers v. Slater, 197 F.R.D. 185, 190 (D.D.C. 2000)). An
interlocutory order Amay be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all
the claims and all the parties= rights and liabilities,@ Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b), but A[i]n general, a
court will grant a motion for reconsideration of an interlocutory order only when the movant
demonstrates: >(1) an intervening change in the law; (2) the discovery of new evidence not
previously available; or (3) a clear error in the first order.= @ Zeigler v. Potter, 555 F. Supp. 2d
126, 129 (D.D.C. 2008) (quoting Keystone Tobacco Co. v. U.S. Tobacco Co., 217 F.R.D. 235,
237 (D.D.C. 2003)).
Plaintiff’s Motion to Reconsider
Plaintiff surmises that because the ruling did not address each of his “issue[s]” . . .
“separate and distinctly,” the Court had “overlooked” the Affidavit submitted as part of his
opposition. See Pl.’s Brief in Support of the Mot. to Alter, or Amend Judgment ¶¶ 1-3. When
deciding a summary judgment motion, however, the Court is required to resolve disputes over
“material fact[s].” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56; see Mem. Op. I at 3-4 (discussing legal standard).
Plaintiff asserts that the Court “overlooked [his] reliance on the privacy act,” Pl.’s Brief ¶ 3
(citing Am. Compl. [ECF No. 8] ¶ 1), but he mentions the Privacy Act only in the context of
seeking the “production of agency records” requested under the FOIA. Am. Compl. ¶ 1.
Plaintiff’s “reliance” on the Privacy Act to obtain agency records is misplaced for two reasons:
(1) the Act proscribes the invasion of personal privacy by restricting the disclosure of an
individual’s information; and (2) the Act expressly exempts from its reach information that is
required to be disclosed under the FOIA. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b)(2); see Greentree v. United States
2
Customs Serv., 674 F.2d 74, 79 (D.C. Cir. 1982) (concluding “that section (b)(2) of the Privacy
Act represents a Congressional mandate that the Privacy Act not be used as a barrier to FOIA
access”).
Plaintiff also asserts that the Court overlooked (1) his claim that defendant’s declaration
was “conclusory and insufficient,” and (2) his challenge to “the adequacy of the search, and its
scope, because the agency alleges to have provided the captions of the indictments for both cases
which appears [sic] to be stated in bad faith . . . .” (Aff. of James E. Murphy [ECF No. 13] ¶¶
16, 19.) The former assertion is belied by the fact that the Court agreed in part with plaintiff’s
criticism of defendant’s declaration and, as a result, partially denied summary judgment to
defendant. See Mem. Op. I at 6. As for the latter assertion, the Court determined that the
premise of plaintiff’s argument is not that defendant improperly withheld responsive documents,
which triggers FOIA analysis, but that it released inaccurate court documents, which does not.
See id. at 5. Since plaintiff has presented no basis for amending the order, his Rule 54(b) motion
will be denied.
Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration
The Court has carefully reviewed the documents which contain containing the requested
times that the grand jury convened, along with a supporting declaration, in camera and it finds
the documents to be exempt under FOIA exemption 3 because they are grand jury forms
containing information that would reveal secret aspects of a grand jury investigation. See Mem.
Op. I at 6 (discussing grand jury material); see also Second Decl. of Kathleen Brandon [ECF No.
24-3] ¶ 3 (describing generally “scenarios [where] the times in which a grand jury was convened
in a particular case could disclose to a requester the identity of [grand jury] witnesses”).
“Ultimately, an agency's justification for invoking a FOIA exemption is sufficient if [as here] it
3
appears ‘logical’ or ‘plausible.’ ” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of Defense, 715 F.3d 937,
941 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (quoting ACLU v. U.S. Dep’t of Defense, 628 F.3d 612, 619 (D.C. Cir.
2011) (other citations omitted). The Court further finds that any non-exempt information
contained in the documents is so “inextricably intertwined” with the exempt information that any
attempt to segregate the documents would “produce an edited document with little informational
value.” Mays v. DEA, 234 F.3d 1324, 1327 (D.C. Cir. 2000) (citation and internal quotation
marks omitted).
For the foregoing reasons, the Court concludes that no improper withholding has
occurred. It therefore will grant defendant’s Rule 54(b) motion to reconsider and vacate the
order directing the release of what defendant has now shown to be exemption 3 material. See
Morgan v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 923 F.2d 195, 196 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (“[T]he FOIA gives federal
courts jurisdiction to compel an agency to produce records only if the agency has (1) improperly
(2) withheld (3) agency records.”) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
Consequently, plaintiff’s pending motions will be denied. A separate final order accompanies
this Memorandum Opinion.
___________/s/__________
ELLEN SEGAL HUVELLE
DATE: February 3, 2014 United States District Judge
4