Davidson v. BOP, No. 17-5429, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 24272 (6th Cir. Nov. 29, 2017) (per curiam)

Davidson v. BOP, No. 17-5429, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 24272 (6th Cir. Nov. 29, 2017) (per curiam)

Re: Request for records concerning BOP's administration of the Commissary Fund

Disposition: Affirming district court's rejection of requester's motion to strike; affirming district court's grant of defendant's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Vaughn Index/Declaration:  The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holds that "[t]he district court properly rejected [the requester's] motion to strike."  "In his declaration, [the declarant] indicated that he had both an awareness of the procedures employed by the BOP to respond to FOIA requests as well as knowledge of how those procedures were applied to [the requester's] specific request."  "That [the declarant] did not personally conduct the search does not mean that he lacked personal knowledge."
   
• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holds that "[defendant's] declaration shows that the BOP undertook a reasonable search for the information requested."  "Specifically, the declaration states that the BOP searched the Financial Management Information System, the location where such records would normally be kept, and determined that no records were present[.]"  Responding to "[the requester's] challenge[] [to] the sufficiency of the BOP's search, mainly contending that the search was inadequate because the BOP did not search for the records directly at the prison where [the requester] is housed[]," the court finds that "the BOP only has to show that its search was adequate – that it could reasonably be expected to produce the sought-after information . . . – and [the requester] has given no reason for this court to believe, even assuming for the sake of argument that there might be some reason why relevant documents could be stored at [the requester's] local prison, that the BOP's search of the Financial Management Information System would not produce the requested information."