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Buckley v. DOJ, No. 19-319, 2024 WL 4677633 (W.D.N.Y. Nov. 5, 2024) (Foschio, Mag. J.)

Date

Buckley v. DOJ, No. 19-319, 2024 WL 4677633 (W.D.N.Y. Nov. 5, 2024) (Foschio, Mag. J.)

Re: Request for all records concerning plaintiff

Disposition:  Denying plaintiff’s motion for attorney fees and costs

  • Attorney Fees, Eligibility:  The court holds that “[b]ecause Plaintiff has failed to establish the first step, i.e., that he substantially prevailed in this action . . . , Plaintiff is not eligible for an award of attorney fees incurred in connection with this action . . . .”  First, the court finds that “no part of [one page at issue] was ever released pursuant to [the] court’s order.”  “Nor were any of the . . . additional pages [at issue] released pursuant to court order.”  “Plaintiff thus is not eligible for an award of attorney fees based on substantially prevailing by way of a court order.”  As to the catalyst theory, the court finds that “Plaintiff has failed to meet his burden of showing it is more probable than not that absent commencing this action, Defendant would not have conducted the cross-reference search and released the [pages at issue]; rather, the release of the . . . pages one month after Plaintiff provided the eight additional [Certificate of Identity Form DOJ-361s] as required for releasing information pertaining to other than the FOIA applicant strongly supports that Defendant promptly released the records upon receipt of the necessary forms.”  “Accordingly, Plaintiff has failed to establish eligibility for attorney fees based on the catalyst theory.”

     
Court Decision Topic(s)
District Court opinions
Attorney Fees
Updated January 6, 2025