Cause of Action Inst. v. Eggleston, No. 16-871, 2016 WL 7243518 (D.D.C. Dec. 15, 2016) (Kollar-Kotelly, J.)

Cause of Action Inst. v. Eggleston, No. 16-871, 2016 WL 7243518 (D.D.C. Dec. 15, 2016) (Kollar-Kotelly, J.)

Re: Requests for certain work calendars and certain records concerning health insurance exchanges

Disposition: Granting defendant's partial motion to dismiss

• Litigation Considerations: "[T]he Court dismisses Plaintiff's FOIA cause of action to the extent it alleges a 'policy or practice' claim because Plaintiff has not plausibly alleged facts showing that Defendants have followed a policy or practice of violating FOIA, beyond the fact that final determinations of several of Plaintiff's FOIA requests are delayed[.]" "The Court begins by noting that Plaintiff's Complaint is largely reliant on allegations, newspaper articles and emails regarding FOIA requests that are not at issue in this case, many of which appear to have been made by other groups or individuals." "To have standing to challenge an alleged 'policy or practice,' a plaintiff must allege that it was subject to the practice challenged." "[W]ith regard to the FOIA requests submitted by Plaintiff actually at issue in this case[,]" the court finds that "[p]laintiff cannot state a 'policy or practice' claim based on a single incident[,]" "delay alone, even repeated delay, is not the type of illegal policy or practice that is actionable under [a policy or practice claim][,]" and "with regard to Plaintiff’s attempt to plead something more than mere delay, the Court is not required to, and does not, accept Plaintiff's conclusory and unsupported allegation that its requests have been delayed for illicit purposes."