Anderson v. FBI, No. 18-617, 2018 WL 6573282 (D.D.C. Dec. 13, 2018) (McFadden, J.)

Anderson v. FBI, No. 18-617, 2018 WL 6573282 (D.D.C. Dec. 13, 2018) (McFadden, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning incident report, custody classification, training course, and administrative remedy

Disposition:  Granting defendant's motion for summary judgment

• Exemptions 6 & 7(C):  The court finds that "[t]he Bureau properly withheld information about third-party individuals under exemption 6 and, with most documents, in conjunction with exemption[] 7(C)[.]"  The court relates that "'[t]he D.C. Circuit has consistently held that exemption 7(C) protects the privacy interests of all persons mentioned in law enforcement records, including investigators, suspects, witnesses and informants, . . . and has determined that such third-party information is "categorically exempt" from disclosure under exemption 7(C), in the absence of an overriding public interest in its disclosure.'"  The court holds that "[b]ecause [plaintiff] has filed no opposition, much less one asserting a public interest, nothing precludes granting summary judgment to Defendant on exemptions 6 and 7(C)."
   

• Exemption 7(E):  The court relates that "[t]he D.C. Circuit has 'set a relatively low bar for the agency,' requiring it to 'only . . . demonstrate logically how the release of the requested information might create a risk of circumvention of the law.'"  The court holds that "[t]he Bureau has done that[.]"
   

• Litigation Considerations, "Reasonably Segregable" Requirements:  The court holds that "the Vaughn Index confirms throughout that the responsive documents were 'evaluated for segregability and any exemptions applied were made with a good faith determination that the information withheld fit the FOIA exemption.'"