Aguirre v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, No. 19-587, 2020 WL 804353 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 18, 2020) (Bashant, J.)

Aguirre v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, No. 19-587, 2020 WL 804353 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 18, 2020) (Bashant, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning alleged safety incident

Disposition:  Granting defendant's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:  The court notes that plaintiff "submitted his request on March 19, 2019 and filed suit on March 29, 2019."  "When a plaintiff prematurely files his complaint before the FOIA claims accrue, he necessarily does not exhaust his administrative remedies before filing his FOIA claims in court."  The court notes that "Plaintiff does not appear to dispute that he filed his complaint prematurely."  "Plaintiff's arguments in response to the NRC's Motion are: (1) the Court should waive the requirement of exhaustion of administrative remedies and assume jurisdiction over the case; and (2) any further request to exhaust administrative remedies would be futile."  The court finds that "Plaintiff made an unreasonable request, and the NRC began to respond to it in a reasonable manner."  "Allowing a party to file suit before the agency has been allowed the statutory time limit to respond to the request completely ignores the purpose of administrative exhaustion."  "The Court declines to waive or ignore the requirement that Plaintiff exhaust his administrative remedies."