Chaverra v. USCIS, No. 18-289, 2018 WL 4762259 (D.D.C. Oct. 2, 2018) (Boasberg, J.)

Chaverra v. USCIS, No. 18-289, 2018 WL 4762259 (D.D.C. Oct. 2, 2018) (Boasberg, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning death of individual

Disposition:  Granting defendants' partial motion to dismiss

• Litigation Considerations:   Because the law is clear that Plaintiff's opportunity to seek redress through FOIA is an adequate remedy, the Court will grant Defendants' Motion."  The court relates that "[plaintiff's] APA cause of action complains that ICE 'unlawfully withheld and unreasonably delayed the legally mandated release of [the deceased's] medical records.'"  "As redress, he seeks access to these records."  "As this Court has previously noted, however, '[t]here is "little doubt that FOIA offers an adequate remedy within the meaning of section 704," . . . when litigants seeks to "gain access to . . . records."'"  The court also specifically rejects plaintiff's "conten[tion] that FOIA's promised relief is not 'adequate' because some of the statute's exemptions might apply."  The court finds that "[i]t is well settled that the alternate remedy must be only of the 'same genre'; it need not be identical."