Bioscience Advisors, Inc. v. SEC, No. 21-00866, 2023 WL 163144 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 11, 2023) (Gilliam, Jr., J.)

Bioscience Advisors, Inc. v. SEC, No. 21-00866, 2023 WL 163144 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 11, 2023) (Gilliam, Jr., J.)

Re:  Requests for certain biopharmaceutical industry financial updates, deal announcements, and searchable contracts

Disposition:  Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  “The Court agrees that Defendants have shown that they conducted an adequate search for responsive records in response to Plaintiff’s FOIA requests.”  “Defendants provide detailed affidavits describing the process by which they searched for the requested records.”  “Affidavits that describe what was searched and by whom are enough to establish an adequate search.”  The court relates that “Plaintiff makes much of the fact that [defendant] ‘did not confirm the destruction of the unredacted exhibits by the Corporation Finance staff; rather, [defendant] merely took their word for it.’”  “But Defendants are right that Plaintiff’s preferred investigative project was not required for the searches conducted to be adequate.”