Aguiar v. DEA, No. 18-5356, 2021 WL 1227804 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 2, 2021) (Rogers, J.)

Aguiar v. DEA, No. 18-5356, 2021 WL 1227804 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 2, 2021) (Rogers, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning requester's criminal case, including GPS mapping software and four administrative subpoenas

Disposition:  Affirming district court's grant of government's motion for summary judgment

• Procedural Requirements, Proper FOIA Requests:  The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit holds that "because DEA does not possess the GPS mapping software or any related map images and never created or retained the map images introduced at appellant’s trial, FOIA does not obligate DEA now to create such map images in the first instance."  The court relates that the requester and "[a]micus maintains that 'the relevant record is the location information for each ping [identifying the date and time], not a spreadsheet,' . . . and that § 552(a)(3)(B) obligates DEA to provide this location information in appellant's preferred map format because DEA has not disputed that this information is 'readily reproducible' in that format . . . ."  "Maps, in amicus' view, are definitionally another 'form or format' of GPS coordinate data because 'stating a longitude and latitude is simply a way to describe where on a map something is located.'"  "Anything that presents the same underlying information without altering its substantive contents, amicus suggests, is another 'form or format' of a record."  The court finds that "even assuming for purposes of argument that the relevant 'record' is the location information and not a spreadsheet, amicus’ broad interpretation of the phrase 'form or format' is unpersuasive."  "Nothing in § 552(a)(3)(B)'s purpose or history suggests that Congress intended to obligate agencies to organize information contained in a record in a FOIA requestor's preferred way solely for the requestor's convenience."  The court finds that "[the requester and amicus] points to nothing in § 552(a)(3)(B)'s legislative history supporting a categorical obligation on agencies to display requested information in a way usable or convenient for the FOIA requestor whenever doing so does not alter the information's substantive content."  "Interpreting § 552(a)(3)(B) as imposing such an obligation on agencies in the circumstances here would likely also be in tension with this court's precedent holding that FOIA does not obligate agencies to 'add explanatory material to a document' and that a FOIA 'requestor must take the agency records as he finds them.'"  "The court therefore cannot accept amicus' sweeping interpretation that maps are, as a matter of law, another 'form or format' of coordinate data under § 552(a)(3)(B) merely because plotting coordinates on a map 'displays them in an understandable form without altering their substance.'"  Finally, "[t]oday, the court need not define the precise scope of the phrase 'form or format' in § 552(a)(3)(B) or identify the line distinguishing a 'form or format' of a record from an entirely new record."  "Whatever that line, the record before this court shows that to produce the maps requested by appellant – like those viewed by DEA agents during their investigation or those introduced at appellant's trial by the U.S. Attorney's Office – DEA would have to create new records."