Brozzo v. Dep't of Educ., No. 14-1584, 2017 WL 1968292 (N.D.N.Y. May 11, 2017) (Kahn, J.)

Brozzo v. Dep't of Educ., No. 14-1584, 2017 WL 1968292 (N.D.N.Y. May 11, 2017) (Kahn, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning plaintiff's student loans

Disposition:  Granting defendant's renewed motion for summary judgment; denying plaintiff's cross-motion for summary judgment

• Procedural Requirements, Agency Records:  The court holds that "Defendant has met its burden of demonstrating that the records in question are not 'agency records' in the context of FOIA, as they were not created or obtained by Defendant and are not under its control."  The court finds that "Defendant does not possess the level of supervision and control necessary for documents to be considered agency records under the constructive obtainment and control theory."  "[T]he requested documents were never used or integrated into Defendant's records or files[]" and "it is undisputed that the records were not actually created by Defendant; and the records were not created on Defendant's behalf or even created with the expectation that the loans (and thus access to the records) would ever be assigned to Defendant, 'as the vast majority of FFEL borrowers repay their loans.'"